Tobacco: Interventions in schools

Tobacco refers to the consumption of tobacco products in various forms: cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, electronic cigarettes, snuff, shisha, etc. Tobacco products are the only legal products that kill when consumed as intended by the manufacturer. There is no safe threshold for the use of these products because nicotine is highly addictive.

Interventions in schools should aim to prevent the use of tobacco by:

• providing young people with tools to remain smoke-free
• facilitating young people’s engagement in actions to build a smoke-free society
• promoting smoke-free environments

• initiation to smoking
• initiation to tobacco
• non-smoking
• preventing the use of tobacco
• smoking
• smoking prevention
• tobacco avoidance

• Secondary I (From Elementary 6 onward only if young people are already using tobacco [notably in disadvantaged and Indigenous communities])
• Secondary II

For Elementary 

1. Refrain from talking directly about tobacco. Limit interventions to questions asked by students and answer them directly, succinctly and simply.

For Elementary 6 students in environments in which tobacco use is common and for secondary school students

1. Use interventions to promote young people’s ability to refuse offers to consume tobacco, manage emotions and stress adequately, and encourage young people to become involved in their communities.
2. Provide age-appropriate information to young people directly and objectively, and do not focus solely on the risks associated with tobacco use.
3. Inform young people of the following:
   • Tobacco use starts gradually; it’s sneaky—you take a first drag, you inhale, you smoke a whole cigarette, you smoke frequently.
   • There is no safe threshold for tobacco use.
   • There is no typical initiation pathway, and research shows that addiction can occur very early, well before weekly or daily consumption.
     • The earlier a person starts using tobacco products, the more likely they are to become addicted to nicotine.
4. Aim for the critical initiation period for prevention (at the secondary school level, this applies to students in Secondary I and II).