Chatham-Kent continues to slowly butt out.
Jeff Moco, youth engagement co-ordinator with CK Public Health, said stop-smoking efforts and anti-nicotine campaigns in schools are having an impact.
Fifteen years ago, the smoking rate in Chatham-Kent sat at just under 30 per cent, he said. Today, it’s half that.
“We’re losing about 1,000 smokers every year, just due to people stopping smoking,” he said. “That’s really, really good.”
Progress is being made in younger age groups, but for people aged 65 and up, smoking cessation is stagnant.
Public Health offers its C-K Stop program, and provides 26 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy for individuals looking to kick the habit.
So far in 2025, more than 100 people have signed up for the program.
It seems to be working, as Moco said after a year, 45.5 per cent of participants have stopped smoking.
Vaping remains a concern, especially among teenagers. Moco said provincial numbers indicate 13.4 per cent of student report having vaped in the past year. That’s down marginally from previous figures.
Public Health goals for 2025 in terms of addressing nicotine addiction include promoting cessation services and increasing the number of people who sign up to attempt to quit, especially in the age 20-44 group; and continuing to educate students against the intake of nicotine.
For years, the federal government has been pledging it has plans to ban flavoured vape products. But to date, no legislation has been passed.
The board of health will be writing a letter to advocate senior levels of government to accelerate the banning of sweet and fruity flavours of vape products.
