Don’t get me wrong, I know how hard it is to quit doing something you like to do. Not a lot of people can quit “cold turkey”. I know a few people who did, but they are few and far between. These people quit for good and they did it for a very good reason. I know one man who quit because all his friends starting having double and triple by-pass surgeries, one even had a quadruple by-pass. Did you know that when you smoke a cigarette your arteries constrict and your heart has to work harder? I imagine too you get headaches from all the stuff you ingest. Do you realize what second-hand smoke does to children? And do you know that third-hand smoke is even more dangerous? Third-hand smoke is the smoke that stays on your clothes and hair; and your drapes and furniture if you smoke inside. What this comes right down to is choice. We all have choice, a God-given choice, if you will. We can all choose to start smoking, toking, and drinking, if we want but in the long run we are only taking chances with our health and wellbeing. I know what the government is trying to
do is create awareness about the hazards of smoking with their posters; they do serve as a reminder when people see them. But like anything else, the longer those posters are there in public view, the more people will become used to them and eventually ignore them. We all make choices every day, some good, some not so good and some downright detrimental. And smoking is detrimental, it is lethal to our lungs and to our environment and to our families. To quote a singer that I love, “I’ve had choices, since the day that I was born, there were voices, that told me right from wrong. If I had listened, I wouldn’t be here today, living and dying with the choices I’ve made.” So what is the answer? The two years that I was on the Municipal Council, and on the Alcohol and Drug committee, I came to appreciate how addictive a lot of things we use are, like soda pop, junk food, coffee, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and alcohol. I won’t even go into the illegal substances.
coping, for relieving stress. I am well aware that the solution is not going to happen overnight. We all know people who have been smoking for a long time do not want to quit. And smokers are quite aware of the consequences of long-term use, not to mention the high cost of supporting their habit. I am not just talking about the money they spend on buying cigarettes but the high cost to their health and the health of second-hand recipients and the overall cost to our health system. This past year we lost a lot of people to cancer, I lost my niece, she passed away on Dec 1st, she was buried her on Dec 6th. She was only 40 years old and she was a smoker, I don’t know how long she was a smoker but she still wanted to smoke when she was in the hospital. Cigarettes are deadly, they kill and they will keep on killing. We know cigarettes cause cancer; they cause heart disease and strokes; they are the cause of emphysema, chronic bronchitis and aneurysms. Smoking is also the most addictive of all drugs, causing physical and psychological addiction. So having said all this, one would think that people would run screaming the other direction when they see cigarette smoke. But that is unlikely since the majority of this community smokes. I would like to take a survey one day just to see how many people actually do smoke out of the 2000 people in Baker Lake. While I was involved with Tunganiq Addictions Project, there was an emphasis on drug and alcohol addictions, sniffing inhalants prevention and gambling addictions yet for some reason nicotine addiction was a non-issue. And I believe this is the most expensive, most used and most addictive substance in our community.
I learnt a lot about addictions and their effect and aftermath. And I learnt to appreciate that these things are being used for
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