Tobacco Use Prevention

Education

(TUPE)

 American Indian Tobacco

•  Karuk
•  Araeheeraha
•  Yurok
•  O:Lhohkum
•  Hupa
•  Xojim
•  Wiyot
•  Kuwil Kwoswak
•  Tolowa
•  Seetyu’
 Traditional Use of Tobacco

Risk of Cancer: → None.

Type of Use: → Tobacco offering to the earth or a fire. It is held

in the hand and is not smoked.
→ Smoking a Sacred Pipe (not all pipes contain
tobacco when smoked. In fact some tribes do
not use tobacco at all. Some tribal people will
use a blend of tobacco with other herbs in their
pipe).
→ Offered to a Healer, Elder, or other person as a
sign of respect

Benefits: → Discipline.
→ Respect for the creator and all creation.
→ Understanding of Indian culture.
→ Spiritual development towards being a good
person.

Special Notes: → There are many traditional ways to use tobacco.

It is smoked in some traditional ceremonies.
However, it is generally used less than once a
month. There is no risk of cancer when used
this way.
 Non-Traditional Use of Tobacco

Risk of Cancer: → Very high if you use chew, snuff, or smoke

cigarettes.

Type of Use: → Chewing tobacco in any form.

→ Using snuff in any form.
→ Smoking cigarettes.

Benefits: → No benefits.

Special Notes: → Some people chew or smoke for

relaxation, weight control, and to
concentrate better. Other people do it to
be cool, for an image, or to keep from
being bored.
→ Chewing tobacco gives a teen an
unpleasant odor and bad breath. This
leaves you unkissable. Chewing leads to
gum disease, tooth decay, addiction to
tobacco, and cancer of the mouth and
throat.
 Sacred

•  So many of our
cultural ways have
been lost. We thank
the Creator of Mother
Earth for our life. We
offer her sacred
tobacco in our
ceremonies with
respect.

 Respect

•  The Creator gives us
many gifts. These gifts
must be respected and
used in their proper
way. Tobacco is a gift
to be used in a sacred
way with respect.

 Life

•  Current commercial
uses of tobacco are not
only a great health risk
to our society, but they
also pose a threat to
our traditional uses of
tobacco. Tobacco can
both take life and give
life.

Negative Social Consequences

Smelly and poor is no way to go

through life!

 Short Term Effects of Smoking

Smelly hair & clothes

Yellow teeth
Can’t taste food

Loss of circulation
(cold hands & feet)

Red, dry eyes
Stained fingers

 Cause & Effect

What happens when we become addicted

to commercial tobacco products?

 in Tobacco

•  Acetone - found in nail polish remover

•  Ammonia - used to clean bathrooms and windows

•  Formaldehyde - used to preserve dead frogs

•  Mothballs - used to keep moths off our clothes

•  Cadmium - makes batteries run

•  Hydrogen cyanide - poison used in gas chambers

•  Carbon monoxide - from a car’s tail pipe

•  Arsenic - poison used to kill rats and mice

 Long Term Effects of Smoking

•  Lung cancer

•  Throat cancer

•  Emphysema

•  Heart disease

•  Blocked arteries

•  Colon cancer

•  Bronchitis & asthma

Think One Puff Can’t Hurt You?

•  Think again. Research

shows that even one
puff off a cigarette can
cause the chromosomes
carrying DNA to pull
apart at both ends.

•  Be smart, don’t start!

 CO$T of Commercial Tobacco

♦ Each cigarette costs about

25 cents ($5.00 for a pack)

♦ If you smoke a pack a day

you pay $35.00 a week to
smoke

♦ That is $140.00 a month

♦ Which is $1,680.00 a year

 Health Effects of Chewing Tobacco

•  A sore that does not heal

•  A lump or white patch
•  A prolonged sore throat
•  Difficulty in chewing
•  Restricted movement of
the tongue or jaws
•  A feeling of something in
the throat
 CO$T of Chewing Tobacco

•  Each can costs $3.50

•  At one tin a day, you

spend $25 a week

•  That is $105 a month

•  A year of chewing
costs you $1278

 But I’m Only 
Hurting Myself...

•  Causes lung cancer

•  Causes heart disease

•  Leads to asthma &
bronchitis

•  Kills non-smokers and
smokers alike

Keep Smoke Away From
Babies

Second Hand Smoke


leads to:

•  Lower birth weights in
babies

•  Increased risk of SIDS

•  More ear infections in
babies

•  More cavities in
developing teeth

Are You Smoking For Two?

•  Developing fetus is
starved of oxygen and
nutrients when the
mother smokes

•  Smoking during
pregnancy increases
the mother’s risk of
developing gestational
diabetes.

 Just the Facts

•  15.5 million children are
exposed to second hand
smoke in their homes.

•  Between 38,000 and

67,500 non-smokers die
each year due to second
hand/pregnancy smoke.

•  400,000 smokers die each

year from their own habit.

 Critical Thinking 
& Decision Making Skills:

 Why start?

•  Peer pressure

•  Friends or family
members smoke or
chew

•  To look older or more
mature

•  Escapism

•  Advertising

 Social Norms

Is Everyone REALLY Doing It?

Wanted: “Replacement Smokers”

•  They will spend on

The tobacco industry
needs 4,000 new smokers
per day to make a profit.
average $12.4 billion
dollars per year to
market their deadly
products.

•  Do the math: that’s

over $34 million
dollars PER DAY! 

 Breaking the Bank

•  The Federal Government

spent over $75 Billion in
2002 on smoking related
health problems.

•  2002 non-healthcare costs
caused by smoking were
over $82 billion due to loss
of productivity (sick days,
etc.).

•  The burden on taxpayers is
$528 dollars per year, even
if you DON”T SMOKE!

Advertising

Would I lie?

Tricks of the Trickster

Tricks of the Trade

•  Advertisers recruit
young smokers with
images of cool, fun,
active, and attractive
people

•  Only the Trickster tells
as many lies as the
BIG Tobacco
Companies

 How to Read an Ad

•  Who is paying for the ad?

•  What is the purpose of the


ad?

•  Who profits from the ad?

•  What is NOT being said
•  How are the messages
and why?

being communicated?

•  Are the messages
•  Who is the target
consistent with reality?


audience?

 Emotional Responses to Ads

Focus on:

•  Models or characters
•  Activity displayed

•  Ethnicity or race
•  Size of the text

•  Gender and age

•  Colors

•  Physical appearance
•  Picture angles

•  Clothing
•  Setting

Dreams & 
Insecurities

The Cool Factor

 Friends, 
Fun & 
Excitement

Individuality

Omission

Machismo
Adult Rites
of Passage

 Refusal Techniques


Mind if I smoke?
Only if you’re on fire!

Peer Pressure Works BOTH Ways

 All the Cool Kids AREN’T Doing It!

•  Recent studies show that •  Less than 9% of 10th

less than 5% of 8th graders use commercial
graders nationwide tobacco products

currently use •  Less than 15% of 12th
commercial tobacco graders use commercial
products on a daily basis
tobacco products

These numbers are slowly, but steadily declining.

Top 10 things you can do with the TIME &
MONEY you save by NOT smoking tobacco

Top 10

 Top 10

•  Your life and tobacco are both gifts from the

Creator.

•  Respect yourself and Mother Earth by avoiding


commercial tobacco abuse.


L. Moerner - NCIDC Tobacco Program Specialist