On the streets of Iqaluit, cheery Alana Kronstal is known as “the tobacco lady.” Young and old, everyone seems to know the 31-year-old, who is leading the charge against smoking in Nunavut, home of the highest smoking rates in Canada. “Nowhere in Canada has a campaign been launched starting with such a majority of smokers,” […] More »

Dear Progressive Detective: I’ve been hearing a lot about e-cigarettes. What are these things, and can they really help me kick my habit? E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that detect the user’s pull and vaporize a nicotine solution that recreates the smoking experience without carcinogens, odour, ashes, stubs, or even litter. Without the 4,000 chemicals added […] More »

As the wheels hit the hot asphalt of the runway, I look up to see the frenetic expressions on the faces of my fellow passengers—a look that falls somewhere between anxious and anaphylactic, and it’s clear they’re desperate to get off the plane. It’s been a short and relatively painless flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to […] More »

You have to wonder what the staff at Canada’s medical schools are smoking. At least one quarter of the schools have accepted money from Big Tobacco to fund their operations, according to a study conducted by the University of Toronto’s Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health in May. Four […] More »