“Cigarettes cause cancer,""Tobacco smoke harms children" and "Poison in every puff."

Those are some of the messages smokers will find on their cigarettes as of August 1st when new legislation kicks in.

This will make Canada the first country to approach the deterrence of tobacco use in this fashion.

Dr. Michael Chaiton with the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health, says it is easy to become addicted to tobacco.

“In our current environment, I think it is one of the most addictive. That’s partially because it’s one of the most easiest to obtain and they are more socially acceptable to be able to use in more places. The products themselves are also really streamlined and engineered in order to become the most addictive as possible.”  

Chaiton said past anti-smoking campaigns directed at cigarette packaging have helped reduce smoking in youth.

But he did add that vaping, which was originally created to be a smoking-cessation product, has become popular with younger people who previously hadn’t used tobacco.  

Listen to the interview on addictions with Dr. Chaiton at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon on Thompson Today.