The Importance of the Great American Smokeout for Native Health and Wellness
By Sadie Spargur & Ravena Soto | November 21, 2024
Annually on the third Thursday of November, the American Cancer Society recognizes the Great American Smokeout. This event is dedicated to encouraging smokers to quit smoking for one day as a start to their smokefree life while reducing their cancer-risk.
Smoking causes an estimated 480,000 deaths every year and more than 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related disease. This heavily affects Native American communities since more than 1 in 4 American Indian and Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) adults smoked cigarettes in 2020—that’s 1.5 times higher than the national smoking rate. Out of the top 10 leading causes of death among AI/AN, six of them have been linked to smoking.
The Commercial Tobacco Industry’s Impact
Through Native Health and Wellness Projects at ETR, we continue to build trust with Native communities to address health disparities. We do this by amplify Indigenous voices, honoring traditional knowledge, and by partnering with Native communities to ensure we center community-driven best practices. One of the ways we do this in tobacco prevention work is by recognizing and honoring the difference between traditional and commercial tobacco.
Traditional tobacco has been sacred to many Native communities throughout the Americas for hundreds of years. It is highly valued for healing and ceremonial purposes. The common agreement is that traditional tobacco is not addictive and does not contain harmful additives but focuses on the process of tending, gathering, and respectfully using the tobacco following Tribal guidance.
Commercial tobacco is highly addictive, contains toxic additives, is sold for profit, and is extremely destructive to the environment. Despite marketing from the commercial tobacco industry to suggest otherwise, commercial tobacco has no connection to spiritual or respectful use. We recognize and honor that there are tribes that continue to grow tobacco for traditional use today.
The commercial tobacco industry has a long history of strategically targeting its harmful products toward vulnerable populations, including young people, minority groups, low-income individuals, those with mental health challenges, and rural communities.
Native communities have also been subjected to these predatory marketing tactics, which compound the health disparities stemming from historical trauma, systemic oppression, and the enduring impacts of forced displacement that continue to affect their well-being today. Despite these challenges, Native people are developing innovative strategies to strengthen their communities and reclaim their health.
Start Your Quit Journey with Resources
No matter your age or how long you have been using commercial tobacco, quitting improves health immediately and over the long term. Giving up commercial tobacco is a journey, which can be challenging, but you can increase your chances of success with a good plan and support.
Getting help through counseling and medications can double or even triple your chances of quitting commercial tobacco successfully. Check out these resources local to California and Native communities looking for support:
- United Indian Health Services NATIVE Tobacco Project will provide free educational resources & quit kits designed for UIHS clients on November 21, 2024, at the following UIHS clinical sites:
- Potawot Health Village, located at 1600 Weeot Way, Arcata, CA 95521, from 1 pm to 4 pm.
- Taa-‘at-dvn Medical Clinic, located at 1675 Northcrest Drive, Crescent City, CA 95531, from 1 pm to 4 pm.
- Tribal Community Coordinating Center (TCCC) is a project of ETR, funded by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), with the primary purpose to inform local and state partners, stakeholders, and policy leaders about key tobacco-related policy, system, and environmental changes that have been prioritized by Tribes.
- The ETR Store offers tobacco prevention materials that are evidence-based and evidence-informed. These materials feature the latest updates on the epidemiology of tobacco-related disease, the prevalence of smoking and other tobacco use, and the risk factors related to tobacco use for individuals and communities.
Ravena Soto (she/her/hers) is the Program Manager I for ETR’s Tribal Community Coordinating Center. She is from northern California and a member of the Enterprise Rancheria Maidu Tribe. Ravena lives in the Los Angeles area and works to support California Tribal communities and Tribal-serving organizations in pursuit of more positive health outcomes. Ravena can be reached at ravena.soto@etr.org.
Sadie Spargur is a Health Promotion & Education Specialist II for the NATIVE Tobacco Project United Indian Health Services, Inc.
