Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Kids in the NWT start smoking a lot earlier than in other jurisdictions, says the territory's chief medical officer.

A smoker lights up in the cold. Anti-smoking campaigns across the NWT are targetting young smokers. - Philippe Morin/ NNSL Photo

"The data we have for our 2006 survey is 11.4 years," said Dr. Andre Corriveau.

He said most of the current anti-smoking programs are geared towards youth because kids who do not smoke before they're 18 are unlikely to ever smoke.

He said there are significantly more smokers in the NWT than in other jurisdictions, and rates are even higher in rural or smaller communities. Some communities more than 50 per cent of the population are active smokers.

"The urban centres were quicker to move on de-normalization and smoking bans and that kind of stuff. It's had an impact, I think, overall on the way kids grow up and tobacco being very prevalent," said Corriveau.

Corriveau said though there has been less of a focus on helping adults quit smoking, progress has been made with the youth.

"We're still quite far away from going down to national rates, but with the 10 to 14 year-olds we've made significant progress," said Corriveau.

However, smoking rates in Canada are typically around 20 per cent of the population, where the NWT is around the 40 per cent range.

"We haven't won the battle by any far cry at this point," said Corriveau.

Smoking is linked to numerous health problems, some of which include cancer, emphysema and coronary heart disease.

A year ago the Tobacco Act was passed, territory-wide legislation that banned smoking in public places and limited the display of tobacco products.

Rosella Stoesz, health promotions specialist with the department of Health and Social Services, said there are a variety of programs in place to help stop children from becoming addicted to tobacco.

The Don't Be a Butthead campaign is going into its fourth year at a cost of $261,000 for the 2007/2008 term.

"It's a health promotions campaign that is targeted at ages 8 through 14," she said. "It's presentations and so on that are brought to the youth in the schools and, as a result of that, they are asked to make the commitment to be smoke-free."

Kids are also provided with incentives such as T-shirts and the names of those who sign the pledge to stay smoke-free are entered into a draw for prizes.

Other programs directed at youth include Smoke Screening, a pan-territorial campaign currently in its fifth year, where a variety of tobacco advertisements are put together and viewed by kids in schools who vote on which is the best.

"It's meant to be a springboard for discussion as well, so that it gives the teacher an opportunity to do a program around tobacco in an entertaining sort of fashion," said Stoesz.

There is also the BLAST (Building Leadership for Action in Schools Today) conference in its sixth year, which takes place in Yellowknife and is delivered thorough the Alberta/NWT lung association.

Stoesz said the campaign includes leadership training and developing skills.

"Part of what they learn in the conference is about tobacco, but then also how to initiate and take on a project they can do in their communities," she said.

There are currently no programs aimed at adults, but there is a promotional campaign called Look Who's Quit, which has been running in newspapers over the past few years.

"We profile people who are real people from the Northwest Territories who have quit smoking and provide comment on why or how and how they feel now," she said.

Stoesz said sometimes kids who have been educated about the ill effects of tobacco will relay that information at home.

"There is sometimes an indirect benefit as well, as those kids can become ambassadors and support for their family members to consider becoming smoke free," she said.

One Yellowknife man, who did not want to be named, said he has been smoking for 20 years and has tried repeatedly to quit. He said that he isn't really sure why he smokes, but he enjoys it.

Mike Chinna, a Norman Wells resident said he quit smoking after six years of the habit and started at the age of 17. He said he didn't find it was too hard to give it up and stopped for health reasons.

"Just because it's bad for you," he said.