Recent Articles:
Below are past articles previously published in Drugs & Addiction Magazine. These are filled with current and relevant information and statistics and can be used as great conversation starters with youth.
It’s Bell Let’s Talk Day!
January 30, 2019Former Insys CEO pleads guilty to opioid kickback scheme
January 17, 2019Resolve to Detox Your Social Circle
January 16, 2019Easing test anxiety boosts low-income students’ biology grades
January 15, 2019Craving insight into addiction
January 14, 2019People with low self-esteem tend to seek support in ways that backfire, study finds
January 10, 2019Ban on cigarette sales in NYC pharmacies starts Jan. 1
January 9, 2019Too many problems? Maybe coping isn’t the answer
January 8, 2019Half of all mental illness begins by the age of 14
January 3, 2019Sexting Teens
December 19, 2018Screen Addiction: Today’s Biggest Threat to Schooling?
December 19, 2018Texting Etiquette & Safety: 5 Rules for Keeping Your Kids & Teens Secure & Drama-Free
December 17, 2018Amnesty International: Indigenous Peoples’ rights
December 17, 2018New Canadians sworn in as Winnipeg museum celebrates International Human Rights Day
December 13, 2018Statement by the Prime Minister on Human Rights Day
December 12, 2018Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in America, CDC confirms
December 12, 2018The Illustrated Version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
December 11, 2018Homeless man with terminal cancer donates to holiday toy drive
December 10, 2018Boy gets Colorado town to overturn snowball fight ban
December 6, 2018Fortnite addiction is forcing kids into video game rehab
December 5, 2018Clarity on Cannabis
December 4, 2018Mental health education recommended for RCMP members following inquest
November 30, 2018Social Media – 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence
November 28, 2018Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence
November 27, 2018#GIVINGTUESDAY TODAY ONLY YOUR GIFT CAN BE MATCHED
November 27, 2018The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
November 26, 2018#ENDViolence in schools
November 23, 2018Statement by Minister MacLeod on National Child Day
November 22, 2018November 20th marks National Children’s Day across Canada
November 21, 2018National Child Day
November 20, 2018Facts & Figures
November 16, 2018The Push For Change®
November 15, 2018Winter Giving 101
November 14, 2018First came the stroke, then the inspiration…
November 13, 2018Canadian Youth Speakers Bureau: Scott Hammell
November 9, 2018John Connors’ brilliant IFTA Award speech
November 9, 2018Crisis Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone
November 8, 2018This teen pizzeria employee traveled 3 hours to deliver pizza to a man with terminal cancer
November 6, 2018Video captures joyful law student’s reaction to passing her bar exam
November 5, 2018MADD Canada launches annual red ribbon campaign in Halifax
November 2, 2018Nova Scotia’s Health Department says talks underway for province’s first overdose prevention site
October 31, 2018Crystal meth eclipsing opioids on the Prairies: ‘There’s no lack of meth on the street’
October 29, 2018Opioids Don’t Discriminate: An Interactive Experience.
October 26, 2018Guelph police warn drug users of spike in purple fentanyl
October 25, 2018What exactly are you inhaling when you vape?
October 23, 2018Study ADHD Medication Overdoses
June 14, 2018A Cry for Guidance
January 18, 2018Your Friend’s Substance Abuse
September 15, 2017Depression
September 15, 2017Methamphetamines
September 15, 2017Alcohol
September 15, 201725 Healthy Ways to Feel Better
September 15, 2017More teens in Sask. are smokers than in any other province: Health Canada survey
November 5, 2018Province needs to do more to curb youth smoking: health policy analyst
CBC News
Saskatchewan teens are smoking almost three times more than their peers in other provinces, according to newly released numbers.
Health Canada’s 2017 Canadian Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey found that 21.9 per cent of youth aged 15 to 19 identified as tobacco smokers, compared to a national rate of 7.9 per cent.
“Nationally, the rate has continued to fall and has continued to fall among other provinces and ours has remained stubbornly high,” said Donna Pasiechnik, who is a health policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society in Regina.
The concern, she said, is about youth smokers turning into lifelong addicts with lifelong health complications. Pasiechnik said Saskatchewan has fallen behind other provinces and needs to do more to help cut back tobacco consumption.
“We pull in nearly $300 million a year in tobacco taxes. We don’t spend anything to help people quit or or stop people from starting,” she said.
Pasiechnik said she has worked in tobacco control for 15 years and is frustrated because health groups continue to ask for change to no avail.
“It’s a concern, of course, because if we don’t control tobacco we will not control cancer. It’s disheartening,” she said.
Pasiechnik said simple measures such as banning smoking at all playgrounds and on hospital grounds can make a difference. She said seven other provinces have banned smoking on all outdoor bar patios.
A ban on all flavoured tobacco and requiring retail licenses could also help control tobacco, she said.
She questioned why people need a license to sell cannabis but not tobacco, which she called “the deadliest consumer product on the market.”
Furthermore, she suggested the sale of tobacco be banned at post-secondary institutions and sporting facilities.
“We cannot do this alone. Municipalities have stepped up. The federal government has stepped up. It’s time for the Saskatchewan government to step up,” she said.
Pasiechnik said higher tobacco taxes would be one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, but that past recommendations to the province have fallen on deaf ears.
“I don’t know who’s in their ear, but it’s certainly not us, because it’s not just the Cancer Society calling for this. Doctors have called [for it], the Lung Association, the Saskatchewan Coalition for Tobacco Reductions,” she said.
“In a province where we’re trying to grapple with rising health care costs, why are we not taking this problem more seriously?”
Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter said the province already has “very high taxes on tobacco,” but that tax rates will be reviewed with this year’s upcoming budget, as they are every year.
Reiter said he would like to meet with members from the Cancer Society to hear their “perspective” on the issue.
“We’re extremely concerned if rates are going in the wrong direction,” he said. “We don’t want people to be smoking. Its a huge drain on health care and it causes tragedy in families everywhere.”