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IQALUIT
She had her first cigarette when she was five, and smoking became a habit when she was 10.

Keisha Allurut, 15, took her first drag at age five and has been a regular smoker since age 10. She designed a wall hanging of a skull that consists of cigarette butts, which is part of a larger display assembled by her classmates as part of the Government of Nunavut's Tobacco Has No Place Here campaign. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"The highest I went to was almost three packs a day a couple of months ago," said Keisha Allurut, 15.

Today, Allurut is a non-smoker, and was one of a group of Iqaluit teens creating art to promote Nunavut's tobacco awareness campaign, Tobacco Has No Place Here.

"It was a horrible addiction," said Allurut, who is originally from Arctic Bay. "I really regret it. I learned from my mom and family about (reasons not to be) smoking, but I just got tempted by my friends and started smoking."

Allurut was one of 15 Inuksuk High School students who, under Danny Osborne's direction, created a sculpture made of 8,000 cigarette butts collected in two hours from Iqaluit streets. A plywood crib decorated with butts and two canvas wall hangings were the centrepiece of the campaign opening on Jan. 16 in Iqaluit. The government is currently looking for a long-term home for the display.

Allurut designed one of the wall hangings, an image of a skull. Working on the project, which gave the students time to discuss tobacco use, helped encourage quitting the habit.

"Every time we had breaks, we would play games and get our minds off smoking. Just socialize. And every time we were working on it, we were just laughing about anything. I had so much fun."

Fellow student participant Martha Jackson, 15, has been smoking since age 12.

"Everyone was doing it and I felt left out," she said. "It's an annoying habit. I can quit for three days, but then after that, I have a craving that makes me get really angry."

The government campaign is not intended to encourage people to quit smoking, said tobacco reduction specialist Alana Kronstal, as there are already programs for that. The mission is to challenge what people accept as normal, Kronstal said.

"The majority (more than 60 per cent) of people in the territory smoke," she said. "I think most people know that smoking is bad for them and cancer rates are high, but from our research, we are left with questions whether or not people realize the real cost, the burden of tobacco, on our families and communities. Tobacco use is at the root of most of the illnesses in the territory. It's killing a lot of people."

In 2002, the last year a survey was done, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse estimated tobacco cost Nunavut $20 million in direct and indirect health costs, Kronstal said. The territory is working on updating the numbers as it prepares legislation to recoup those costs from tobacco companies.

"We know that since then our health care costs have essentially doubled, so we can only estimate that that number has risen for tobacco," she said.

Those costs almost meet the amount Nunavummiut spend on smoking each year – $42 million. To help smokers quit, the government funds up to $1,000 toward nicotine replacement therapy for Non-Insured Health Benefit recipients.

The funds needed for health care and anti-smoking programs could be used to fund other community programs if everyone quit, so communities and individuals need to think of ways to encourage kicking the habit.

Along with Allurut and her classmates, officials with the Department of Health and Social Services are among those leading the way. Ainiak Korgak, an external public health relations manager, started smoking when he was 17 and quit when he was 50.

"It was hard, but I quit," the 57-year-old said, noting he smoked about seven or eight cigarettes a day. "It may take many times to quit. If you keep at it, it will stick. It was a choice I made that I have not regretted to this day."

No regrets for Allurut, either, who is an enthusiastic athlete and fell into the habit after injuring her knee.

"I'm finally getting back into sports after four years," she said. "Without smoking, I can run longer, play longer, and it's my main thing. I feel great."

She has one piece of advice for fellow teens looking to light up.

"Don't start smoking. It may look cool. It hurts you without even knowing it."

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