Smoke Free Generation
Our vision: Make British Columbia the first province in Canada where future generations will never be able to buy commercial tobacco or nicotine products.
A Smoke-Free Generation in BC
There is no safe level of commercial tobacco or nicotine use. The Smoke-Free Generation (SFG) proposal bans the sale of tobacco and nicotine (vaping) products to anyone born on or after a specific date. It increases the legal age at which people can purchase tobacco and vaping products every year. Over time, it will create a generation of young people who have never been able to buy tobacco or vaping products, effectively phasing out the sale and use of tobacco and nicotine.
Smoking and Vaping in BC
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in British Columbia, with over 6,000 deaths attributed to tobacco use, each year, in BC alone. Smoking is a tremendous burden on the economy, too, costing an estimated $2.7 billion each year in healthcare expenses and lost productivity.
SFG is Grounded in Research
- Young people get addicted to nicotine more easily than adults.
- Trying tobacco products in adolescence can result in lifelong addition.
- 9 out of 10 tobacco users begin tobacco use in adolescence.
- Preventing youth uptake of tobacco is the key to ending the tobacco epidemic.
SFG takes a novel approach: it will prevent young people from ever starting to smoke, rather than the much harder task of replying on cessation interventions after addition has developed .
Why Smoke-Free Generation?
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in British Columbia, with over 6,000 deaths attributed to tobacco use, each year, in BC alone. Smoking is a tremendous burden on the economy, too, costing an estimated $2.7 billion each year in healthcare expenses and lost productivity.
While there’s been tremendous progress in reducing smoking rates since the 20th century, this progress has slowed in BC and Canada over the last decade. Traditional tobacco control measures aren’t as effective as they once were, and the increasing popularity of vaping, particularly among young Canadians, poses a threat to the progress we’ve made.
The Federal government has a Tobacco Endgame goal, of achieving smoking prevalence by less than 5% by 2035. On our current trajectory, BC is unlikely to achieve it.
We need dramatic action to finally put an end to the tobacco epidemic.
The BC Lung Foundation is proposing a bold policy, focused on preventing young people from ever starting to use tobacco or vaping products. It has the potential to give us the momentum to not only to reach the federal goal of 5% by 2035, but to eradicate tobacco and nicotine use altogether.
A Tobacco Endgame Strategy: Supporting Policies
SFG is not a standalone policy, nor a silver bullet to reach the tobacco endgame. It is an integral component of a strategy to phase out tobacco and nicotine use, but other policies are needed to get British Columbia to less than 5% prevalence of nicotine use by 2035.
BC Lung Foundation’s proposal couples SFG with the following supporting policies:
- Increased cessation supports for those addicted to tobacco
- Denicotinization of cigarettes and other tobacco products
- Limiting the number of tobacco retailers across the province
- Banning flavoured vaping products that appeal to youth
Smoke-Free Generation will be the first public, provincial policy of its kind in Canada.
SFG Policy Paper
