Re-launch of successful campaign aims to help young Canadians quit smoking
OTTAWA, Jan. 31, 2017 /CNW/ - Tobacco use and smoking rates in Canada are some of the lowest they have ever been; however, studies show that youth and young adults continue to smoke. To help more Canadians, especially young adults, give up smoking, Health Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society today launched the fourth tour of the Break It Off tobacco cessation campaign.
The Break It Off campaign encourages young adult smokers to "break off" their bad relationship with smoking and stay smoke-free. The Break It Off website has tools and resources that will help young adults work through the various stages of breaking up with smoking. This year's campaign builds on successes from the last three years, and aims to get young adults involved through a series of interactive activities and events at Canadian university and college campuses.
The Break It Off tour began on January 30, 2017 with an event at La Cité Collégiale in Ottawa. On January 31, 2017, the campaign makes a stop at British Columbia Institute of Technology as well as Algonquin College's Woodroffe Campus in Ottawa. Health Canada encourages young Canadians to visit the Break It Off website to access smoking cessation resources, and to see when a campus event will be in their community.
Quick Facts
- The 2015 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey showed that overall cigarette smoking prevalence dropped to an all-time low of 13% in 2015.
- The vast majority of smokers start smoking in adolescence or young adulthood. In Canada, most current adult daily smokers had smoked their first cigarette by the age of 18.
- The Break It Off tour, a collaborative effort by Health Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society, will travel across the country in early 2017, making stops at colleges and universities in every province as well as Yukon, to reach out to young adults and offer them tools and resources to help them stop smoking.
Quotes
"Every year, thousands of Canadians die from preventable illnesses related to smoking, and thousands of young Canadians start smoking. This is unacceptable. Successful programs such as Break It Off are such an important tool in our fight against smoking as they help deliver the message that quitting smoking is possible and that help is available."
The Honourable Jane Philpott
Minister of Health
Associated Links
Break It Off website
SOURCE Health Canada
To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2017/31/c7322.html
Andrew MacKendrick, Office of Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Media Relations: Health Canada, 613-957-2983; Public Inquiries: 613-957-2991, 1-866 225-0709
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