Alcohol Sales Across Canada

 
 

Alcohol sales in New Brunswick were down -1.9 per cent to $407,140,000.

Nova Scotia saw alcohol sales down -0.7 per cent with $623,628,000 in sales.

The third lowest increase in alcohol sales in the country was Quebec with a -0.6 per cent decline and $5,342,362,000 in sales.

British Columbia saw alcohol sales increase by 2.4 per cent to $3,096,440,000 in sales

Canada
Across Canada, alcohol sales rose by 2.2 per cent in 2013, translating to $21,356,713,000 in sales.

Alcohol sales in Ontario in 2012 rose by 2.9 per cent from 2012, for a total of $7,505,714,000 in sales.

Prince Edward Island saw alcohol sales rise by 3.4 per cent in 2013, for a total of $88,868,000 in sales.

Saskatchewan saw their alcohol sales rise by 3.6 per cent in 2013 to $624,200,000.

Manitoba saw alcohol sales increase by 3.6 per cent, to $710,127,000 in sales.

Newfoundland and Labrador saw alcohol sales in Canada increase by 3.2 per cent to $441,754,000.

Alberta was the province with the highest increase in alcohol sales in 2013. The province booze sales grew by 7.0 per cent for a total of $2,420,655,000 in sales.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Things We Hate About Canadian Health Care

 
 

Would you change anything about Canada’s health-care system? Have you had a good or bad experience with finding a family doctor?

 

1. Finding a family doctor takes forever
And then you end up on a wait list for two years.

2. Specialists and hospitals don’t talk
Which means your specialist might send you to a hospital with a long wait time instead of one with a short one.

3. Hospital parking is SO EXPENSIVE
And nobody makes change inside.

4. Doctors are too busy
And it always feels like they’re rushing you out the door.

5. Friends with doctors in the family get better service
They magically get appointments in two weeks instead of eight months.

6. We have to pay for drugs/dentists/vision care
But we always forget and end up forgoing care or emptying the wallet.

7. And don’t get us started on mental health coverage
Which often isn’t covered either.

8. Family doctors insist you can’t use walk-in clinics
Because they lose money every time you do. Why is the pay structure like this again?

9. Preventative care takes a backseat
Even though it could help us save money.

10. Moving provinces is a nightmare
We’re supposed to have universal health care, but good luck figuring out the paperwork to get reimbursed for out-of-province care.

11. It costs money to get a sick note
Why do we pay for you to scribble gibberish on a notepad? Feels like a hidden fee.

12. And to renew prescriptions over the phone
Now I’m going to the office for no good reason. But the doctor will get paid, so the system will lose money on the transaction. Genius!

13. Doctors STILL HAVEN’T GONE DIGITAL
Even after the eHealth scandal in Ontario.

Seriously, do they just hate computers?

Canadian patients wait longest to see family doctors

Hypochondriacs, not wait times ruining Canadian health care

How many people run to emergency for non-emergency issues, or to their family [doctor] for the same?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Toll Of Mental Illness In Canada

 
 

In any given year, one in five people in Canada has a mental health problem or illness.

Of the 6.7 million people who have a mental health problem, about one million are children and teenagers between nine and 19 years old.

Mental health problems cost at least $50 billion a year, or 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product, not including the costs to the criminal justice system or the child welfare system.

In 2011, about $42.3 billion was spent in Canada on treatment, care and support for people with mental health problems.

Mental health problems account for about 30 per cent of short- and long-term disability claims.

If just a small percentage of mental health problems in children could be prevented, the savings would be in the billions.

How To Help Someone Struggling with Mental Health issues

Show concern about them and let them know that you have noticed something different about them recently.

If this leads them to open up, listen to what they are finding difficult without interrupting or asking too many questions

Validate what they have said and reassure them that it is good that they have told you and that you would like to help If you feel able to, offer to meet them regularly to try to support them with their difficulties

If you are concerned that you are out of your depth, encourage them to seek help and get information for them about how to do so

If you are worried that they are so depressed that they may pose a significant risk to themselves, you need to tell someone in a position of responsibility

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Doctor Waiting Times By Province

   
   
BEST: British Columbia
46.1 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it. Only 14.8 per cent of people said they had to wait eight days or more, the least of any province.

2: Saskatchewan
43.1 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it.

3: Prince Edward Island
42.9 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it.

4: Ontario
42.4 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it.

5: Quebec
39.7 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it. However, 40.5 per cent had to wait eight days or more, the largest proportion of any province.

6: Nova Scotia
39.3 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it.

7: Manitoba
38.2 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it, while 38.6 per cent could get an appointment in two to seven days after calling.

8: Alberta
36.3 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it.

9: New Brunswick
34.2 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it.

WORST: Newfoundland & Labrador
30.9 per cent of respondents could get an appointment at their doctor the same or next day when they needed it, whereas 40.4 per cent had to wait two to seven days. As well, 28.7 per cent had to wait eight days or more.

 
Top 10 Hospitals In Canada – CBC Rate My Hospital
   
Sturgeon Community Hospital
City: St. Albert, Alberta
   

   
High River General Hospital
City: High River, Alberta

Banff- Mineral Springs Hospital, Covenant Health
City: Banff, Alberta

Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital
City: Smiths Falls, Ontario

Lamont Health Care Centre
City: Lamont, Alberta

Victoria General Hospital
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba

St. Joseph’s Health Care London
City: London, Ontario

Chaleur Regional Hospital
City: Bathurst, New Brunswick

Saskatoon City Hospital
City: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Grace Hospital
City: Winnipeg, Manitoba

   
   
   
   
   
   

Canada | Which Province Smokes The Most Pot?

Canada – 12.2 Per Cent
3,429,678 people

These are the StatsCan totals for Canadians age 15 years and older in the 12 months of 2012. Use included cannabis and hashish.

10. Saskatchewan – 10.1 Per Cent
81,676 people

9. P.E.I. – 10.4 Per Cent
12,437 people

8. New Brunswick – 11 Per Cent
68,444 people

7. Newfoundland And Labrador – 11.1 Per Cent
47,344 people

6. Quebec – 11.5 Per Cent
763,278 people

5. Manitoba – 11.5 Per Cent
110,235 people

4. Alberta – 11.8 Per Cent
361,247 people

3. Ontario – 12.1 Per Cent
1,331,299 people

2. B.C. – 14.2 Per Cent
538,434 people

1. Nova Scotia – 14.8 Per Cent
115,285 people

 

Where In The World Do Kids Smoke The Most Pot?
 

29. Norway
– 4.55 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

All data from UNICEF’S Child Well-Being Index for 2013.

28. Sweden
– 5.54 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

27. Romania
– 6.08 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

26. Greece
– 6.6 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

25. Iceland
– 7 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

24. Finland
– 8.02 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

23. Germany
– 8.55 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

22. Austria
– 10.04 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

21. Portugal
– 10.05 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

20. Hungary
– 10.54 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

19. Denmark
– 11.51 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

18. Slovakia
– 13.04 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

17. Ireland
– 13.11 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

16. Lithuania
– 14.24 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

15. Poland
– 14.60 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

14. Estonia
– 14.69 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

13. Luxembourg
– 15 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

12. Belgium
– 16.07 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

11. Italy
– 16.62 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

10. Netherlands
– 17.05 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

9. The United Kingdom
– 17.45 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

8. Slovenia
– 18 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

7. Latvia
– 18.5 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

6. Czech Republic
– 21.49 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

5. The United States
– 22.05 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

4. France
– 22.54 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

3. Spain
– 24.06 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

2. Switzerland
– 24.13 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

1. Canada
– 28 per cent of children aged 11, 13 and 15 report having used marijuana in the last year.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Medical mistakes

Some 24,000 Canadians will die this year from medical mistakes. Even the most temperate doctors call this an epidemic. Why these mishaps persist despite, and even because of, medicine’s growing sophistication

Walrus Magazine| The Errors of Their Ways by Rachel Giese

Related topic:
> New campaign aims to reduce medical mistakes
A national health initiative will focus its latest efforts on reducing infections, blood clots, falls and mistakes with drugs in Canadian hospitals and nursing homes

> Overworked nurses admit making medication errors

Landmark tobacco case begins in Montreal courtroom

MONTREAL – A landmark tobacco case with up to $27 billion at stake started Monday in a Montreal courtroom, with Canada’s three largest cigarette companies squaring off against a group of Quebec smokers.

The class-action case is considered the biggest in Canadian history.

Read more…

Do you think people who get sick after smoking have a case against tobacco companies?
[] Yes, the companies are to blame
[] No, it’s their own fault

So far 11,760 have voted on Yahoo! Poll. Results: 17% said: Yes, the companies are to blame; and, 83% said, smokers are to blame.

Related topic:
Smokers Can Sue Tobacco Companies for Fraud over “Light Cigarettes”

UPDATE!

Smokers Were ‘Blind’ If They Thought It Was Safe, Says Ex-Tobacco Exec Read more…

Time Bomb: OXYCONTIN

The Fifth Estate – CBC Canada
Infographic: OxyContin Facts & Stats
Interview: Dr. Roman Jovey
Interview: Dr. Phillip Berger
More Information on Provincial Drug Funding
Addiction Resources: SupportNet.ca

It was touted as a miracle pill: a narcotic pain reliever that could change the lives of people suffering from chronic pain, but with little — so its maker claimed, and thousands of doctors believed — risk of addiction.

Since OxyContin was introduced in 1996, Canada has recorded the second-highest number of prescription opioid painkiller addictions — and the world’s second-highest death rate from overdoses.

“It’s helping your pain, but then you get immune to it, so then you go to the family doctor and he says ‘Well, you’re gonna need more,'” a woman who became addicted to OxyContin tells the fifth estate’s Linden MacIntyre. “So he puts you on the 40 milligram (dose) and you’re on that for a month, and then you get used to that dose and he puts you on the 80s.”

But how did a little pill that only appeared in 1996 become so big, so fast? In 1998, Canadian sales were just a few million dollars. Twelve years later they had soared to $243 million. In the U.S., sales were $3.5 billion in 2010. Though there were differences in corporate style and legal structure between Purdue in the U.S and in Canada, a similar marketing approach proved wildly successful. the fifth estate examines why medical schools, GPs and specialists in pain clinics readily embraced the drug at first, and why some have now changed their minds.

OxyContin has recently been dropped from provincial health plans in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada. The manufacturer has now stopped making it altogether, replacing it with a new formulation known as OxyNeo. But is it too little, too late? Did the drug’s maker low-ball the risks? Did they know their time-release miracle pill was really a time bomb of addiction, waiting to go off?