Jump to full article: Owen Sound (Ont) Sun Times (ca), 2009-06-03
Author: DENIS LANGLOIS , SUN TIMES STAFF
Intro: The Grey Bruce Health Unit expects smoking rates among local youth to rise as the province cuts funding for tobacco-prevention programs at area high schools.
Money will no longer flow to the health unit to employ two full-time youth advisors and 20 part-time student peer leaders, who educate their schoolmates about the harmful effects of cigarettes and second-hand smoke and the importance of healthy living.
The province has also cut a program that provides $1,000 to each of the area's 14 high schools to finance smoking-prevention initiatives.
"We think it's a no-brainer. Without education, smoking rates will go up," said health unit youth advisor Jason Cranny, who has been employed at the agency for four years.
The health unit will be forced to cancel its Youth Action Alliance Program on Aug. 31 due to the cuts by the provincial Ministry of Health Promotion.
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