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“Just say no” campaigns around vaping will have the unintended consequences of pushing people toward cigarettes, Sweanor said.

There have, in fact, been recent cases in which people have reported returning to cigarettes because of fears about the unknown dangers of vaping.

“We need to meet people where they are and empower them to make better choices,” Sweanor said. “Just say no campaigns do not meet those criteria, particularly so when we deal with addictions, and dramatically so when the foreseeable consequence is the resumption of a massively more hazardous behaviour like cigarette smoking.”

E-cigarettes and vaping have been in the news with cases of related lung disease on the rise in the U.S. and now Canada.

In the U.S., there have been 12 deaths related to vaping and 805 reported cases of lung injury, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last week, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported the country’s first case of severe vaping-related respiratory illness, in Quebec. Earlier, public health officials in London, Ont. announced they were investigating a high school student who had been on life-support in the summer as another possible case of vaping-related illness.

While health officials continue to investigate the links between vaping and the illnesses, some are warning people to avoid vaping. In the U.S., there have been some vaping bans. This summer, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban the sale of e-cigarettes. India has recently banned them.