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Youth Smoking:
- The three age groups with the most smokers are also the youngest: 15 to 18 years old (25%), 19 to 24 (31%), and 25 to 44 (27%) [1]
- With every new generation, the average age youth start smoking is dropping
- 90 percent of smokers begin before age 19 [2]
- Eight out of ten smokers who try smoking become addicted [3]
- For those who start smoking as youth, it requires an average of 18 years to quit
- While adults take an estimated two years to become addicted, teen girls get hooked on tobacco in an average of three weeks, and teen boys in six months [4]
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Rates of Smoking:
- Over 715,000 adults in BC (23% of the population) use tobacco regularly [5]
- In Northern BC, tobacco use increases to 30% of the population [6]
Impact of Smoking:
- One in two smokers dies prematurely
- 3,600 smokers die each year in BC from tobacco related causes
- 14% of British Columbians are exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke regularly [7]
- In Northern BC, exposure to second-hand smoke increases to 30% [8]
- What's in a cigarette?
Costs of Smoking:
- Smokers cost BC taxpayers an estimated $1.4 billion annually in direct health care and indirect productivity costs
- Each new smokers represents lifetime expenditures of approximately $37,333, assuming 20 years of smoking and an average life span of 68 years
- Each smoker costs their employers an extra $2,500 annually in decreased productivity and increased absenteeism [9]
Smoking and Dropping Out:
- Smoking is strongly correlated with poor educational and social outcomes
- By high school graduation, almost 70% of dropouts smoke cigarettes, compared to 28% of those still attending school [10]
[1] BC Ministry of Health, Ibid
[2] Thomas H. Maugh II / Los Angeles Times: August 2002. Research shows teens are easily hooked on tobacco. Study: Young girls become addicted even faster than boys. Available: http://www.detnews.com/2002/health/0209/04/health-574328.htm
[3] Bishops College Guidance Department. Facts You Should Know About Cigarette Smoking.
[4] Thomas H. Maugh II / Los Angeles Times, Ibid
[5] BC Ministry of Health. Tobacco Truth: TobaccoFacts: Who Smokes in BC.
Available: http://www.tobaccofacts.org/tob_truth/index.html
[6] BC Ministry of Health, Ibid
[7] BC Ministry of Health, Ibid
[8] BC Ministry of Health, Ibid
[9] Health Canada: January 2001. Smoking and the Bottom Line: The Costs of Smoking in the Workplace.
Available: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/facts/bottomline/ch3_cost.html
[10] Moolchan, Eric T.: June 2000. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: A Review of Tobacco Smoking in Adolescents: Treatment Implications.
Available: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2250/6_39/63296763/print.jhtml
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