CWNews

NDP Bill on Tobacco: Clearly Out-of-Touch with Youth-Related Health Issues in Nova Scotia


Canada NewsWire

May 13, 2008 Tuesday 4:59 PM Eastern Time



LENGTH: 825 words

DATELINE: MONTREAL May 13

An NDP Private Member's Bill in Nova Scotia, which would come to ban flavoring agents in cigarillos, demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of, and commitment to, much more prevalent and pressing youth-related health issues in the province.

Bill 159, a Bill first introduced in the legislature on May 7th by Dartmouth East MLA Joan Massey, would have us believe that the use of flavored tobacco products in the province is a well-founded and important youth-related health threat that must be (and can only be) addressed by immediately banning these products outright. Aside from the fact that the proposed Bill is based on absolutely no concrete understanding, information and/or data which in the least accurately quantifies or qualifies the supposed problem, the fact is that this initiative shows how completely out-of-touch Ms. Massey is on what are the actual and real social/health threats to Nova Scotia's youth.

Ms. Massey's Bill, unfortunately, is just another example of politicians increasingly falling prey to the sustainable rhetoric and unsubstantiated (likely libelous) allegations made in the media by government-funded anti-tobacco extremist groups", says Luc Martial, a longstanding tobacco control professional and tobacco industry insider. "These are groups who celebrate their success in "shaming" smokers through "humiliation tactics" and whose publicly-paid agendas are focused on "stripping a legal industry of its legitimacy" and making the distribution and sale of tobacco products as "annoying" as possible", says Mr. Martial. The anti-tobacco groups' agenda and Ms. Massey's subsequent Bill is not about health or kids - it's about well crafted moral outrage against smokers and smoking. The Bill's pure political symbolism, not only undermines the real youth-related social/health issues in Nova Scotia, but it will also come to provide for much cheaper and less controlled tobacco in the province's schoolyards.

In terms of the much more pressing youth-related social/health issues that would more responsibly warrant the government's time and effort - we find gambling for money and the use of alcohol and marijuana among high school kids. A provincial survey titled Nova Scotia Student Drug Use 2007 (Highlights Report), surveyed 4,484 students in grade 7,9,10 and 12 and found the following:


     - Gambling for money (60%), Alcohol use (52%) and Marijuana use (32%)
       among high school kids in Nova Scotia - greatly surpass tobacco use
       (16%) in the province.
     - 60% of high school kids in Nova Scotia are gambling for money (scratch
       tickets 38%; Internet 5%). 3% of high school kids who gambled for money
       in 2007 met the province's definition of "at-risk" gamblers and 2% of
       them met the province's definition of "problem" gamblers.
     - 52% of high school kids in Nova Scotia use alcohol (22% consumed
       alcohol once a month or less; 17% consumed alcohol once a month or
       more; and 12% consumed alcohol at least once a week). In 2007, 14% of
       students in grade 10 and 12 engaged in alcohol-driving and 19% of
       students were passengers in a motor vehicle driven by someone who had
       had too much to drink. Related problems identified with alcohol use
       among high school kids included: unplanned sex after using
       drugs/alcohol (15%); injuring oneself as a result of drinking (13%);
       damaging things after drinking (12%); and trouble with the police. The
       average age of first use of alcohol is 12.9 years.
     - 32% of high school kids in Nova Scotia use Marijuana. In 2007, 23% of
       students engaged in cannabis-driving and 26% of students were
       passengers in a motor vehicle driven by someone who had been using
       cannabis. Related problems identified with marijuana use among high
       school kids included: unplanned sex after using drugs/alcohol (15%);
       drug use causing tension or disagreement with family/friends (7%); and
       trouble with the police. The average age of first use of marijuana is
       13.5 years.
     - 16% of high school kids in Nova Scotia use tobacco. The average age of
       first use of tobacco is 12.9 years.

Comparatively speaking, Nova Scotia has the highest rate of Marijuana use among high school kids throughout the Atlantic Provinces and ties Newfoundland in first place for alcohol use among high school kids.

Casa Cubana is a Montreal-based importer of quality cigar products. Established in 1998, the company's reach extends throughout Canada with a sales force servicing approximately 10,000+ direct accounts - to include wholesalers, retail chains, independent retailers, gas bars, grocery stores and the duty-free channel. In the province of Nova Scotia, Casa Cubana has more than 300 legitimate and responsible private sector partners who distribute its products to legal-aged and responsible consumers.