Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET
Arsene Ussak's poster was perhaps the most dramatic of those in the territorial Tobacco Has No Place Here Campaign. The Rankin Inlet man was holding a photo of himself undergoing cancer treatment after years of smoking.

Arsene Ussak, who participated in the territorial Tobacco Has No Place Here Campaign, is trying to quit smoking again after restarting. -photo courtesy of the Government of Nunavut

But Ussak is trying to quit smoking again as he restarted about three months ago after his girlfriend left him. The 44-year-old said quitting is difficult.

"I went ... from five cigarettes a day. I'm down to two a day. Yesterday (July 24), I smoked two. Now, I could push myself forward to having nothing again," he said, adding he hopes to quit smoking again by the end of the summer.

Ussak said friends are helping him in his fight against tobacco, visiting him in Rankin Inlet and encouraging him. He said he is also taking nicorette gums.

"I'm getting back on my feet again," said Ussak.

Nunavut's Tobacco Has No Place Here Campaign, launched this past January, aimed to put a human face to harms caused by tobacco. Ussak's story was one of 10 used in the campaign.

Ussak was a two-pack-a-day cigarette smoker before undergoing treatment for throat cancer in 2009, he explained. He added he had stop smoking for 18 months after his treatment.

Then his girlfriend left him, said Ussak, and unsure what to do or how to help himself, he started smoking again.

"It's really important (to quit smoking) so when I'm around people, younger kids could come up to me and ask me, 'What made me smoke in the first place, how I had the cancer,'" he said.

A person who has relapsed should not give up quitting, said Alana Kronstal, a tobacco reduction specialist with the territorial government. Only about four to seven per cent of people will quit smoking in any giving attempt without help, she added. On average, it takes about seven serious attempts for a daily smoker to quit cold turkey, said Kronstal. Using nicotine-replacement therapy, medication and seeking counselling or other emotional support can increase the success rate, she added.

"Quitting is a process. It's not an event," she said. "Just like it takes a little bit of time to become a smoker and become addicted, it also takes time to learn how to quit."

Anyone trying to quit smoking should make a plan, determine when and where they smoke the most, explained Kronstal, and try to create a system to have alternatives to smoking in those same situations.

Telling everyone you've quit smoking so they won't smoke around you will also help, she added.

According to Statistics Canada data from 2011, 59.7 per cent of the Nunavut population identify themselves as current smokers, almost triple the national percentage of smokers at 19.9 per cent.

"I don't want anybody to go through this, what I went through," said Ussak.

"There was a good, positive sign with the campaign. A lot of people were inspired through the poster," said Ussak. "(They) say 'You keep it up, you got a strong voice. You're a strong man to start something for younger people to cut down smoking or even quitting.'"

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.