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• Tobacco use in Saskatchewan costs economy $1.1 billion: study 

Tobacco use in Saskatchewan comes at a hefty price in terms of lives lost to tobacco-related diseases and an annual $1.1 billion hit to the province’s economy, says a new study.

The study commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society Saskatchewan Division, which was obtained by the Leader-Post on Monday, noted that the direct and indirect costs of tobacco are costing every man, woman and child an estimated $1,063.

“And only 18 per cent of these costs are offset through tobacco tax revenue,’’ Janet Rhymes, author of the Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Atlantic report, said Monday.

Using the most recent provincial data, the report costed out the socio-economic toll tobacco use has on the province’s population.

“Although this is an economic exercise, we can never forget the profound life-changing impact for individuals and families who are affected by things like lung cancer, COPD and heart disease,’’ Rhymes said.

The Cost of Tobacco Use in Saskatchewan report found that smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke killed 1,561 people in 2005, accounting for about one out of every five deaths in the province.

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