Group therapy offers Freedom from Smoking
By Paige Willett, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department
While rates have decreased by approximately two-thirds in the last 50 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2019 that 34.2 million Americans smoke cigarettes. Its prevalence among American Indians/Alaska Natives remains high at 1.5 times the national average, or 26 percent of all Native Americans.
“Back in 2001-02, Oklahoma tried to get the tribes more involved, and so they created a coalition, the Native American Tobacco Coalition, and I was one of the ones who was part of that original group representing (Citizen Potawatomi Nation),” said CPN Behavioral Health Therapist Ray Tainpeah.
Petersburg vs Wrangell: Fighting E-cigarettes through a poster competition
Posted by Angela Denning | Jan 14, 2021
This poster about the E-cigarette awareness competition is located downstairs at PIA’s building at 15 N. 12th Street. (Photo by Tory Shay)
Petersburg and Wrangell have long had a friendly rivalry in sports and other activities. Now, Petersburg Indian Association is capitalizing on that relationship in a new effort to fight E-cigarettes.
The tribe’s
Tobacco Prevention and Control program is working with a similar program in Wrangell in a poster competition. It’s in collaboration with the National Native Network and looks at how E-cigarette companies are targeting youth.