Smokes now wrapped in graphic anti-packaging
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 08/01) - The freshest smokes on the shelf are those with pictures of diseased mouths and brains on them.
Cigarette packages with graphic photos of the harm smoking can cause are starting to appear in northern smoke shops and grocery stores.
By order of the federal government, packages and carton covers are now half covered with photos of the brains of stroke victims, diseased gums, overflowing ashtrays and a wilted cigarette symbolizing impotence.
Inuvik smoker Clarence Wood said the packaging change is a good idea.
"It probably won't have an effect on me personally, but hopefully what it will do is discourage younger people from starting," Wood said.
The packages started appearing on the shelves of Yellowknife tobacco sellers last week, but have yet to make it to smaller communities.
Fort Providence smoker Jenn Patterson, a smoker for the last eight years, said the packaging will not cause her to quit.
"People will think about it, but I don't think it will really make a difference," said Patterson. "Another thing -- and this isn't really that big -- but I don't see why they took the calendar off the back."
Calendars carried on the packaging of many brands have been replaced by information about the harmful effects of smoking.
"I think, personally, it's a positive step," said NWT chief medical health officer Dr. Andre Corriveau. "It's certainly not the total answer."
Corriveau said territorial health and social services officials saw samples of the packaging a year ago. He said it will likely be viewed as an annoyance, an unwelcome reminder of the effects of smoking, by long- time tobacco addicts. Youth, he said, are the main target of the graphic packaging.
Huge problem
The first comprehensive statistical report on smoking in the NWT (as opposed to Nunavut and the NWT) will likely be released when the legislative assembly resumes sitting next month.
"It really highlights the magnitude of the problem, particularly in aboriginal youth, where we've lost a lot of ground in the last decade or so," said Corriveau.
The report shows the smoking rate in Yellowknife is the lowest in the territories. Smoking is most popular in Beaufort Delta communities.
According to a 1999 Labour Force Survey, 41 per cent of people 15 and over smoke regularly. The national average is 28 per cent.
Slightly more than 40 per cent of NWT residents aged 15-24 smoke. The highest rate of smoking, 44 per cent, occurs among those aged 25-39.
Corriveau said the territorial government will be cranking up its efforts to reduce smoking, starting with Jan. 15-22 national Non-Smoking Week, and TV commercials aimed at young people.
A draft strategy aimed at reducing smoking in the North will go to cabinet in February.
