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** 17 October 2023
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** UK
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** Opinion: (#1) A reflection on the journey to quitting smoking (#1)
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** Podcast: The hidden cost of cancer (#3)
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** Southampton parents hope detectors will reduce vaping in school (#4)
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** Six arrested in Stockport after £80k of illegal vapes seized (#5)
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** International
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** One in six Irish teenage pupils smoke cannabis (#2)
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** UK
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** Opinion: A reflection on the journey to quitting smoking
Writing in Reader’s Digest, Dr Max Pemberton, who is a journalist and practicing physician reflects on his journey to quitting smoking and encourages readers to take part in Stoptober and give up cigarettes for good.
Pemberton used to be an avid smoker who in his own words “loved cigarettes. I mean, really loved them”, who told himself that when he reached 30 he would quit, however this proved to be very difficult. He realized that “I didn’t make a concerted effort, I’d be smoking until I died”. Pemberton’s Aunt and Grandmother had both died from lung cancer and after he had had a persistent cough for 5 months his family urged him to see a doctor. Luckily, he did not have cancer but it sufficiently planted the seed that if he didn’t quit the result would soon change.
Pemberton started his quit journey, seeking help from his GP and meeting with a smoking cessation nurse at his local surgery, and with this momentum he said he “felt so confident about my ability to quit” that he “actually looked forward to the date I’d set to stop”. He has now not smoked in 10 years.
Finally, Pemberton promotes Stoptober saying “I know from personal experience how tough quitting can be, but I also know how it can change your life” and “the good news is that research shows that if you quit for 28 days, you’re five times more likely to quit for good.”
Source: Reader’s Digest, 16 October 2023
See also: Quit smoking this Stoptober ([link removed])
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Read here ([link removed])
** Podcast: The hidden cost of cancer
As the Guardian’s money and consumer editor, Hilary Osborne is used to thinking about the financial consequences of every life event. But when she was diagnosed with breast cancer she assumed the cost of it would be the last thing on her mind.
Instead, she discovered that being ill had hidden costs – ones that pushed many women into financial catastrophe. In the Guardians Today in Focus podcast, Osborne spoke to women such as Stevie who, because she could no longer work and was struggling to access benefits, was worried about how she would even keep herself warm during her cancer treatment. Stevie explained how money worries were taking a real emotional toll when she should be focusing on her health. Hilary also spoke to Amelia, who explained how she had to walk to her chemotherapy sessions because she could not afford to keep taking taxis.
With research from the cancer charity Macmillan showing that four in five people are, on average, £570 a month worse off as a result of a cancer diagnosis, how can patients access help? And what needs to change so that finances are not an extra worry at such a terrifying time?
Source: The Guardian Podcast: Today in Focus, 16 October 2023
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Southampton parents hope detectors will reduce vaping in school
Parents worried about the rise of vaping in schools have described designing a detection alarm they hope will stop pupils taking up the habit.
The device made by Southampton couple Simon and Jean Hasset is being used by almost 300 schools across the UK.
They said they were inspired by talking to teachers, who have reported vaping causing problems in the classroom.
The government said there has been a three-fold increase of vaping in three years among school-aged children.
It is widely considered less harmful than smoking tobacco, and the government endorses vapes as an aid for giving up smoking.
Similar to a smoke detector, the unit monitors signs of vapour from e-cigarettes and can be placed in difficult-to-police areas such as school toilets.
After four weeks the sensors are triggered 94% less times than when they are first installed, according to the couple's data.
Source: BBC News, 16 October 2023
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Six arrested in Stockport after £80k of illegal vapes seized
Six people have been arrested after £80,000 worth of illegal vapes were seized.
Trading Standards and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers joined forces for the joint operation in Stockport town centre and Edgeley.
Research by Trading Standards has shown that vaping amongst young people has more than trebled in the town.
Councillor Frankie Singleton said there was "no place for unscrupulous vape sellers in Stockport".
"Unregulated vapes are deliberately and dangerously targeted at young people, damaging their health," the cabinet member for communities said.
"Whilst the move away from smoking tobacco cigarettes by our youngsters is welcome news, there is clearly a new challenge with preventing their access to vapes."
Stockport's director of public health Jilla Burgess-Allen said: "E-cigarettes are safer than smoking tobacco and are a good cigarette replacement for those trying to quit but, our message is clear, if you don't smoke, don't start smoking or vaping."
Source: BBC News, 16 October 2023
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Read Here ([link removed])
** International
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** One in six Irish teenage pupils smoke cannabis
Smoking joints before midday is one of the risky behaviours described by Irish schoolchildren in an international study.
Fights, arguments, accidents and poor school grades are among other harmful behaviours linked to cannabis admitted by youngsters taking the psychoactive substance.
One in six Irish pupils aged 15 to 16 revealed they had smoked cannabis in the past 12 months, with just over 40 per cent of these adolescents experimenting once or twice in the year.
But more than 12 per cent of the teenage cannabis users admitted to taking the drug more than 40 times over the course of the year.
It was not unusual for 11 per cent of users to have a joint before midday while 11 per cent also often took cannabis alone.
In the wide-ranging study of problematic cannabis use among children across 25 European countries, nearly 300 students aged 15 and 16 from Ireland answered a series of questions on the use of the illicit drug.
The newly published data, taken from more than 11,000 schoolchildren from the 2019 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, examined risk behaviours and substance use among adolescent students across the continent.
Source: The Times, 15 October 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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