Weedless Wednesday 2006

Weedless Wednesday - From Smoking Prevention to Practice

Today is Weedless Wednesday - a day set aside during National Non-Smoking Week - that agencies and organizations like CAMH encourage people not to smoke for one day. Why not try and make this day your first step towards a smoke-free life?

National Non-Smoking Week runs from January 15-21 and is a time to raise awareness about the dangers and negative health effects of smoking.

Youth prevention has always been a priority of the initiative and this year's OSDUS shows that youth prevention is on the right track. Ontario's youth are definitely picking up the message, not the habit.

This year's OSDUS shows:

Daily smoking among Ontario students has declined steadily since 1999.

From 2003 to 2005, the percentage of students in Ontario who had never taken a puff of a cigarette in their lifetime increased significantly from 57% to 67%.

Early onset of smoking has steadily decreased since 1981. Among Ontario students in grade 7, fewer than 2% reported smoking their first whole cigarette in grade 4 or before in 2005 compared to 16% in 1981.

From 2003 to 2005, cigarette smoking decreased significantly among grade 12 students.

Overall, the prevalence of smoking more than one cigarette in the past year among students in grades seven to 12 decreased from 19% in 2003 to 14% in 2005.

In 2005, 12% of students smoked from a few puffs from to one whole cigarette, a significant decrease from 15% in 2003.

Though the improvements mentioned above are notable, more still needs to be done:

In 2005, 7% of Ontario students surveyed had smoked their first cigarette in the past 12 months.

Among students in grade 11, the average age of smoking the first whole cigarette increased from 11.9 years in 1981 to a historic high of 13.5 years in 2005.

In 2005, 53% of Ontario students under the age of 19 years who smoke were sold cigarettes in the past 30 days when they attempted to purchase.