Contents
- Chronic Disease/Injury Prevention and Built Environment
- Healthy Eating and Food Security
- Injury Prevention
- Physical Activity
- Healthy Environments
- Tobacco Control Program
Ministry of Health
About The Tobacco Control Program
Tobacco-related illness is the leading cause of preventable death in British Columbia. Tobacco use causes up to 6,000 deaths in the province each year, including over 100 non-smokers who die from diseases caused by second-hand smoke. Smoking kills more people in British Columbia than all other drugs, motor vehicle collisions, murder, suicide and HIV/AIDS combined.
Tobacco use is estimated to cost the British Columbian economy over $2.3 billion each year, including health care costs from treating tobacco-related illnesses, increased sick time and lower productivity.
B.C.’s Tobacco Control Strategy
British Columbia takes a comprehensive approach to controlling tobacco. This approach is described in British Columbia’s Tobacco Control Strategy: Targeting Our Efforts (PDF 774K). The strategy has a focus on three key areas:
- Prevention programs - to prevent youth and young adults from starting to use tobacco
- Cessation programs - to encourage and assist tobacco users to reduce and quit their use of tobacco products, and
- Protection programs - to protect British Columbians, particularly infants and children, from exposure to second-hand smoke.
To learn more about tobacco control activities, see the Tobacco Control Program: Year in Review 2008 (PDF 1.1M).
Partnerships
The Tobacco Control Strategy is delivered in partnership with:
- Regional Health Authorities (Fraser, Interior, Northern, Vancouver Island, Vancouver Coastal):
- Tobacco Reduction Coordinators - work to reduce tobacco use in their communities
- Tobacco Enforcement Officers - enforce the Tobacco Control Act in their communities
- Ministry of Finance - administers the sale of tobacco through the Tobacco Retail Authorization and the Tobacco Tax
- WorkSafeBC - governs smoking and second-hand smoke in the workplace under the Environmental Tobacco Smoke section of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Regulation
- Health Canada’s Tobacco Control Programme - administers the Tobacco Act (1997) and the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy
- BC Lung Association - administers QuitNow Services
Priority Initiatives
- QuitNow Services - a free service for British Columbians who want to quit smoking, available online or by telephone
- Enforcement of the Tobacco Control Act - working with health authorities and retailers to increase compliance with the Tobacco Control Act
- Tobacco Litigation - holding the tobacco industry accountable
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