Today is ‘Weedless Wednesday’, a day where the Canadian Cancer Society encourages smokers to butt out for 24 hours.

It’s part of national non-smoking week, which has been around since the seventies, but this is the first year marijuana has been legal in Canada. Now anti-smoking advocates have to navigate around that aspect, as well as the growing popularity of vaping and e-cigarettes.

“We’ve seen an increase nationally in Canada in the use of cannabis and very recently we’ve seen, for the first time in decades that smoking has gone up.” John Atkinson, Canadian Cancer Society.

In 2015, smoking rates hit a historical low with 13% of Canadians lighting up. But in 2017, it went up to 15%, the first increase in smoking in decades.

“Vaping is on the rise, more people are vaping and a lot of people are trying to use e-cigarettes to help quit smoking. So far, the science says you’re not likely or more likely to quit smoking successfully if you vape.” Atkinson.

The city of Hamilton’s public health department has numerous strategies in place to raise awareness of some of the dangers and misconceptions around smoking, both tobacco and cannabis. Their recent campaign, ‘Smoke is Smoke’ aims to inform the community that all smoke, whether it comes from a cigarette or vaporizer, is harmful.

For help and support on quitting smoking, you can visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s Smokers’ Helpline.  People can get support 24 hours a day online or by text messaging, or 7 days a week by phone
SmokersHelpline.ca or at 1-877-513-5333.