When everybody smoked everywhere circa 1977, the cost of a pack of cigarettes in Canada was about to rise to $1.00 a pack. A woman I was working with said, “If they go to a dollar a pack, that’s it. I’m quitting.” The price rose to a dollar a pack and she said, “Well, at least I don’t have to fiddle with change.”

Fiddling with change is what I want to talk about. Nowadays, we buckle up. Children are strapped into carseats, no longer allowed to lounge in the back window. It is not socially acceptable to leave the bar after having ‘one for the road’. Change can happen.

I spent a lot of time at the hospital during my husband’s illness. Let me say, there is nothing more incongruous than seeing a patient wheel their oxygen tank outside to have a cigarette. Sometimes security staff would speak to them — after all, smoking on hospital property is prohibited, but most often they would be left in peace. It’s rare anymore to find a doctor or nurse who smokes. They know the outcome.

Truth told, writing about this makes me uncomfortable. If it were up to me, tobacco would be illegal except for ceremonial use by indigenous people. I get squeamish about these opinions because who am I to say what someone else can do? I fiercely protect anyone’s right to choose, but… it’s tobacco. We have health care to pay for. 

Estimates suggest that tobacco use costs Canadian society approximately $12.3 billion annually.

The Government of Canada committed $330 million over five years starting in 2018, on national approaches to help achieve a target of less than 5% tobacco use by 2035. 

Who would be in that remaining 5% of users?

The World Health Organization reports over 80% of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low and middle-income countries. Research by University of Waterloo suggests the highest percentage of persons who have never smoked, or who are former smokers also have the highest levels of education.

These issues get all tangled up into questions of poverty, social services, support systems, and freedom of choice.

Change. It’s never as simple as ‘just say no’. But change does happen. We’ve come a long way… and I can’t finish that sentence.

Stay safe everyone.

Anne Milne is an every Sunday blogger.  Facebook or Twitter.