Keep Tobacco Sacred

A Curriculum for American Indian Youth about the Gift of Tobacco

Denver Native American Tobacco Education Advisory (NATE) Council January 2006 – June 2009

Lance Allrunner, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa Thompson Williams, Caddo, Margaret Tyon, Oglala Lakota Comanche Josh Runningwolf, Blackfeet Jason Firestone, Kaw Yankton Bad Hand, Lakota Carrie Howell, Pawnee,Santee John Compton, Sicangu Lakota Tvhokne Harjo, Seminole, Choctaw, Theresa Halsey, Hunkpapa Lakota Mvskokee Marlene Rouillard, Lakota Denise Lindstrom, Arikara, Turtle Mountain Chippewa Erli Dawn Roy, Ojibwe, Meskwaki, Laguna Pueblo, Isleta Pueblo

NATE Staff Members and Consultants

Brenda Seals, Ph.D, MPH, Eastern Cherokee, Executive Director Linda Burhansstipanov, MPH, DrPH, Oklahoma Cherokee, Principal Investigator Lisa D. Harjo, BS, MA, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Project Director Lance Allrunner, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa Rose Lee, BS, Navajo, Native Sister Audery Marshall, Oneida, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Native Sister Denise Lindstrom, Arikara, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Native Sister Rosa Molina, Office Manager Daniel Vollin, Member, Salish and Kootenai Confederated Tribes, Consultant - Tobacco Educator

Ó Native American Cancer Research Corporation June 2009

Acknowledgements

This Youth Curriculum was developed and written by staff of the Native American Tobacco Education Project (NATE) at Native American Cancer Research Corporation (NACR). It was initiated and developed through work with American Indian youth in the Denver Metro Area, as a response to data and other information collected during 2005-2007 locally and through research, and based on research on best practices being used with youth and promising practices being used with American Indian youth. This Curriculum has been reviewed by members of the Native American Tobacco Education (NATE) Advisory Council, NATE staff and consultants, and American Indian youth. The following is a list of those who participated in one or more aspect of the project. Unnamed participants in the development are the focus group members, who are anonymous. Without participation by community members who are willing to invest their time and energy, the curriculum would not have the substance that it has or the potential for successful implementation. Native American Cancer Research would like to thank everyone involved in the data collection and development and writing of this curriculum. This curriculum effort has been funded through a grant from the State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (STEPP), a department of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Native American Cancer Research.

Native American Cancer Research 393 South Harlan, Suite 125 Lakewood, CO 80226 303-975-2449

First Printing - March 31, 2008 Second Printing - June 2009 Denver, Colorado

Keep Tobacco Sacred

Keep Tobacco Sacred is a curriculum for educating about the gift of tobacco. According to many American Indian Tribes in North America, the gift of tobacco is sacred. It has many faces. When the tobacco is used in its natural form for medicinal and cultural purposes, it is not harmful. When it is used addictively in the commercial form, it causes disease and illness. Youth today have the challenge of learning all they can about the use of tobacco, both native and commercial, and the added challenge of deciding whether or not to use tobacco in either way. This curriculum will take youth on a journey, learning more about themselves, the medicine wheel, native tobacco, commercial tobacco, and secondhand smoke, and help them learn how to make good choices for themselves and defend those choices. Each of the following seven (7) lessons fit together to guide the student and teacher through the process of self-identity exploration, learning about how to make good choices, and gaining knowledge about both American Indian traditional medicinal and ceremonial uses of tobacco and the addictive use of commercial tobacco. Knowledge about tobacco combined with positive self-concept and good decision making skills will give youth what they need to choose not to start using commercial tobacco and to respect the American Indian traditional use of tobacco. Each lesson has goals for students, student learning objectives, and suggested activities. Teachers may choose which of the activities they want to share with students and are free to adapt the curriculum to fit their needs for similar purposes as Keep Tobacco Sacred. The curriculum also features powerpoints for use with students and handouts for students to put together their own “Keep Tobacco Sacred” notebook. There are also suggested pre and post tests to document learning.

Table of Contents

Lesson Page Number

1. Know Yourself

1.1 Who Are You? 6

1.2 Making Choices - Decision-making Skills 8

2. Build Your Inner Strength – Gain Knowledge

2.1 Commercial Tobacco Products 13

2.2 Media and Marketing of Big Tobacco 17

3. Know Your Traditions and Culture

3.1 Traditional Cultural and Medicinal Uses of Native Tobacco 22

4. Protect Your Family and Community

4.1 Second Hand Smoke - Personal and Public Policy 31

4.2 Share knowledge with Family 34

5. Pre and Post Tests for Students

5.1 Pre and Post Tests 39

1. Know Yourself

1.1 Who Are You?

Strong roots in personal identity provide a strong base for the development of a positive self- concept and self-identity. These are both critical ingredients in the development of youth and their ability to make good decisions. The personal identity of an American Indian youth is tied closely to tribal heritage and cultural beliefs. Gaining knowledge about culture and way of life of American Indian Tribes strengthens youth in their search for themselves. Supporting youth in their path to self-identity will help them make good decisions as they travel through life. The Medicine Wheel is a symbol used by many American Indian tribes to express their way of life, their beliefs, the world they live in and more. This lesson will explore the Medicine Wheel of specific tribes and the symbolism. The Medicine Wheel will be used as a structure to help youth learn about themselves and their personal tribal identity.

Goals:

1. To encourage and support youth in their search for self-identity. 2. To provide opportunities for youth to learn about their cultural heritage. 3. To provide opportunities for youth to learn about the Medicine Wheel and its symbolism for American Indian tribes and people. 4. To engage youth in applying knowledge about the medicine wheel in their self-concept development.

Student Learning Objectives:

1. Knowledge

To learn about the Medicine Wheel and its symbolism for American Indian tribes. To learn how to use the Medicine Wheel to learn about your personal strengths and challenges To learn the geographic location students’ individual tribes. To learn about the tribes represented in the youth in the group. To learn what the students know about their tribes and heritage.

2. Skills

Use a medicine wheel to engage in positive self-concept development. Apply traditional knowledge in modern life.

3. Personalization

To integrate the knowledge about cultural heritage into personal self-identity and self-concept.

Activities (Suggested):

1. Tell a story about the medicine wheel. Ask youth to introduce themselves and state their tribes and share what the medicine wheel means to them. Ask if they have any beaded, porcupine quill, painted, glass, or other types of medicine wheels in their home. Make a chart of their answers. Ask youth to share where their tribe comes from and find the location of their tribe on the map. If there is time ask students to share one way that they express their identity as an American Indian. 2. Share the PowerPoint presentation about the Medicine Wheel. Discuss what the Medicine Wheel means to different tribes. Ask participants to think of things that are in groups of four that the Medicine Wheel could be used to express. 3. Share a Medicine Wheel that expresses Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Emotional in the four quadrants. Talk about the idea that all human beings have strengths or talents or successes in these four areas and we have areas where we have room to grow or challenges. Give an example: Strengths in the physical area might include “good at basketball or like to dance.” Strengths in the mental might be “like to read.” 4. Pass out handout with the Medicine Wheel and these four titles: Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional (or social). Have each youth think about something good about themselves in each area (quadrant) or something that they like to do. Have youth share their medicine wheels with the group. 5. Encourage youth participants to begin writing in a journal about their feelings and thoughts about themselves and what they are learning and experiencing. 6. Ask students to ask their parents if they know a story about how tobacco came to their people. They can bring it to the next session.

Materials

o Resources about tribal use of the Medicine Wheel o Medicine Wheel PowerPoint o Medicine Wheel Worksheet – in the PowerPoint o Journal and Folder for each student o Wall Map of the North America – with American Indian Tribes if possible.

Evaluation – Student Outcomes

1. Youth will create a graph of medicine wheels they have at home or have seen somewhere.

2. Youth can locate their tribes on a national map.

3. Youth will create their own medicine wheels with the four areas of physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental with strengths.

4. Youth will be able to share their strengths with others in the group.

7 1.2. Making Choices - Decision-making Skills

Making decisions and choices each day is based on who we are, what we want, and what we need. When we think about these things before we make decisions, we prepare ourselves for making better decisions. A strong self-identity supports good decision-making. In order to implement choices, youth have to be able to defend their choices to others. They need communication skills to convey those decisions to the people that they are with including peers, family members, and others.

Goals: 1. To teach skills to make decisions. 2. To introduce basic decision-making skills related to the choice to start using commercial tobacco or to quit using commercial tobacco. 3. To refine communication skills to support youth’s choices.

Student Learning Objectives:

1. Knowledge

To understand that there are always choices. To be able to create choices.

2. Skills

To be able to compare alternatives and make educated choices based on personal identity and beliefs. To develop communication skills to support youth in expressing and defending their choices.

3. Personalization

To provide opportunities for youth to learn about themselves and how to apply what they learn to decision-making.

Activities Suggested:

1. Pass out choker making supplies to all students. Share instructions about how many beads to select of each size. Tell students that they can add colored beads to the bone beads that they counted out for their chokers. They must choose the colors and the number of colored beads needed ahead of time. Have each student look at the colors of beads and other materials and make their selections. Let students begin making their chokers. Pass out leather spacers and the sinew for threading the beads. 2. Number the group in fours (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4). Read the Role Playing Situation to the group. Ask the youth in each group to select an ending for the situation, including the language for the players to use. Have each group share their ending. Continue with the other situations. 3. Check back in with the choker-makers. Do they have enough beads? Do they want more? Different colors? Why? Share beads and let youth complete their

8 chokers. Discuss how decisions depend on who they are and what they think. The more they know themselves in advance, the better decisions they make. 4. Do “Influences on Me” activity. Ask youth what influences make them do things, i.e. peers, teasing, nagging, dares, parents, media, family members, etc. Put these labels on cards or pieces of paper that are about 8x10 inches. Pass out the Influence Cards to the groups as ask them to talk about how they influence them and how that makes them feel. Ask them to share how they can communicate to others about their decisions about their own behavior. 5. Ask youth to complete Individual Influences Chart

Materials:

o Choker materials including leather ends and separators, bone beads, and colorful beads for spacers. o Choker Instructions o Written role playing situations o Paper to list suggestions o Cards or paper for Influences on Me activity. o Individual Influences Chart o Markers

Evaluation:

1. Youth will have made a personal choker.

2. Youth will have an initial set of choices to help them handle situations involving not choosing to smoke or chew, promoting a reduction or elimination of secondhand smoke, and making good decisions.

3. Youth will have a personal map of their “influencers” and an understanding of how they impact their lives.

9 Choker Instructions

For each choker assemble the following materials.

Six leather spacers with three holes each

15 bone beads 1”

Colored pony beads as selected. 30 beads per choker at a minimum

Sinew or waxed thread for stringing the beads and bone beads that is three times the length of the youth’s neck with some extra length to tie a knot or bow.

Who do you Who Influences influence? You?

YOU

Name: Date:

Scenarios

Scenario # 1

At a local high school, there are 6 students around the ages of 14-17 years old. One Native American student is standing and listening to the group and one of the other male students asked the student, "Do you want a cigarette?" The Indian student replies, "No thanks." Then the same student asks the Indian, "Do you do rollin' on the weekends?" "I don't smoke cigarettes or use drugs or alcohol. I have more things to do like playing my guitar," the Indian student replies. “You can’t hang. I’ll bet you can’t handle it,” the student says back. “I can handle anything you can,” the American Indian student replies. “Then I’ll see you after school and we will see!”

What should the Indian student do?

Scenario # 2

A youth comes home from school after learning about the harmful effects of second hand smoke. She wants to ask her grandmother and mother to not smoke in the house. They tell her that they are the adults and that it is their home and that she can go outside if she doesn’t like it. How can she encourage them to take it outside.

Scenario # 2 - Restated

My granddaughter came home from school and I asked her how was school today. She said okay but that she wanted to tell me they told her at school. They said that you (grandma) shouldn’t be smoking in the same room that I’m in. So, I said well honey I was in this room first, and this is my house, if you want to be in a room that is smoke free I suggest you go in the other room or better yet go play outside. Don’t come in my house and disrespect me, telling me to go outside…aye. There are plenty of TV’s and video games in the other rooms, and if your worried about my health, don’t.

Handout 12 2. Build Your Inner Strength

Inner strength comes from knowledge, skills, and strong beliefs. The first step is knowledge. Youth need to learn about commercial tobacco products, tobacco addiction, what commercial tobacco products are made of and how they impact the human body. The knowledge that youth gain in the lessons will help them make decisions about not starting to use commercial tobacco products.

2.1. Commercial Tobacco Products

“Commercial tobacco products” is the term used in this curriculum to describe tobacco products that are manufactured to deliver nicotine and other chemicals to the blood stream. These products, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, and pipe tobacco, contain more that natural tobacco. The additives are often carcinogens themselves. Youth need to learn the benefits of quitting or not starting to help them make good decisions about their own personal use of tobacco. Youth need to know how harmful regular continued use of commercial tobacco is on the human body. Youth also need to know what is addictive use and ceremonial use and how they differ including frequency, duration, and intensity.

Goals:

1. To introduce commercial tobacco products and the effect their use has on the human body. 2. To teach what chemicals are added to cigarettes in the manufacturing process. 3. To examine how quitting the use of commercial tobacco products improves our lung and heart health.

Student Learning Objectives

1. Knowledge To learn about commercial tobacco products as nicotine delivery devices and what that means to your health. To understand what “additives” in commercial tobacco products are and how they harm the body. To understand the benefits of never starting or quitting the use of commercial tobacco products on your heart and lung health. To understand the effects of second hand smoke on people, including the young, the old, and pregnant mothers and their unborn children.

2. Skills To be able to identify commercial tobacco products’ use and availability in daily life. To be able to find air free of commercial tobacco smoke (to breathe clean air) in their home or work environment.

3. Personalization

13 Create a personal expression of what learning about commercial tobacco and its harmful effects on the human body means to you. Make a commitment to never start or to quit using commercial tobacco products. Share the message about commercial tobacco use with family and others in the American Indian community. To create places free of commercial tobacco smoke.

Activities (Suggested): 1. Gather youth and present short PowerPoint presentation on commercial tobacco and its impact on the body with continued use. 2. Share photos of healthy and sick lungs and hearts. 3. Share and discuss chart of basic additives in cigarettes and their “other” uses. Play a game about additives. 4. Introduce chart with Frequency, Intensity, and Duration. 5. Make a personal expression of what you learned with pictures, words, and music. This could be a collage, poetry, music or a combination. 6. Make a list of the “Top Ten Reasons not to use Commercial Tobacco”.

Materials

o Slides of tobacco products – brands, types, etc, both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and benefits of quitting o Chart on toxins and their uses. o Facts and information about additives in commercial tobacco o Personal Commitment Certificate o Materials for collage or background for collage o Photo albums o Poster Board etc

Evaluation

1. Youth will be able to identify at least six chemical additives in commercial cigarettes.

2. Youth will be able to explain why Frequency, Intensity and Duration are factors in cancer risk from commercial cigarettes and chew products.

3. Youth will be to name at least ten reasons not to use commercial tobacco products.

4. Youth will be able to name at least benefits from quitting tobacco use.

5. Youth will commit to being commercial tobacco free.

14 Chart on Toxins in Cigarette Smoke and Cigarettes

Note: this is a partial list of the toxins in commercial tobacco products. This is not the entire list. There are approximately 4,000 additives in commercial tobacco and over 50 of which cause cancer.

Arsenic Used in Pesticides Lead Used in Paint Cadmium Used in Making Batteries Butane Used in lighter fluid Carbon Monoxide Found in car exhaust Toluene Found in Paint Thinners Vinyl Chloride Used to make pipes and garbage bags Benzene Found in Gasoline and used to make rubber cement Formaldehyde Used to embalm dead bodies Polonium-210 Radioactive and very toxic Acetone Found in nail polish remover Ammonia Found in cleaning products

Handout 15

What makes commercial tobacco a big “risk” or “cause” for cancer?

Frequency how often does the “risk” or behavior happen? (e.g., smoke >2 packs of cigarettes a day)

Duration how long does the “risk” or behavior last? (e.g., smoked since 14 years old)

Intensity how strong is the dosage of the “risk” or behavior? (e.g., smoke Marlboro -- high nicotine cigarettes)

Handout 16

2.2 Media and Marketing of Big Tobacco

Youth are very impressionable and media and marketing of Big Tobacco is powerful and often influences the decisions youth make and what they do. If youth have more information about media and marketing of Big Tobacco, they will be able to see the message that is being conveyed and make independent choices.

Goals: 1. To introduce youth to media and marketing directed at them. 2. To help youth gain skills to examine media and marketing and make their own decisions about their actions and pick their own heros. 3. To understand how media and marketing encourage people to start using commercial tobacco and continue using commercial tobacco.

Student Learning Objectives

1. Knowledge

To recognize media and marketing directed at youth and American Indians. To know what media message is being stated in print ads about tobacco.

2. Skills

To be able to identify false messages in media about tobacco. To be able to make personal decisions regardless of media and marketing.

3. Personalization

To be able to create messages that are authentic, culturally appropriate, and convey a different message about tobacco.

Activities (Suggested):

1. Present Powerpoint presentation on Media, Marketing, and Big Tobacco. Discuss what students learn about portrayals of heros, famous people, and “what is cool”.

2. Have youth look at print media including magazines and other materials targeting youth, as well as all ages. After the advertisements and other articles and pictures are cut out, students can make individual or group collages and share what they learned with the group.

3. Take the youth for a walk in the community around the school or center and find a business that sells cigarettes such as a corner store or quick stop or grocery store. Have students complete a checklist about the location and availability of tobacco products and signage about the age restrictions for sale.

4. Gather youth together and review what has been learned about media, marketing and Big Tobacco. Allow youth to create their own messages for the community about tobacco.

Materials

o Powerpoint about media, marketing and Big Tobacco o Community Tobacco Survey o Magazines o Posterboard and glue o Markers o Poster Paper

Evaluation

1. Youth will be able to identify Big Tobacco Marketing that targets them.

2. Youth will be able to name places in the community where tobacco is too available and accessible to youth.

18 Community Tobacco Survey

Brainstorm a list of stores, magazines, and newspapers that you think will have tobacco advertisements. Use the phonebook as a starting place for your list if you need help. Go with your parent or another student to visit one of the stores or to get one of the magazines or newspapers listed.

Name of Retail Outlet ______

Street Address ______

City/Town ______Zip Code ______

1. How many advertisements (all kinds) do you count on the outside of the store? (Including windows facing outside and front.) ______

2. How many of the advertisements are tobacco related? ______

3. Are there any Smoke-free signs posted on the outside of the store? YES NO If YES, where are they located?

4. Are there any minimum-age notices (“We card..”) signs on the outside of the store? YES NO If YES, where are they located?

5. Are there any “Warning” signs with information on fines posted outside of the store? YES NO If YES, where are they located?

6. Describe the location of the cigarettes inside the store (check all that apply):

____ Self-serve (located where customers can reach the cigarettes themselves)

____ Behind the counter

____ In a locked case, but not behind the counter

____ In a location requiring clerk assistance

7. Describe the location of spit tobacco inside the store (check all that apply):

____ Self-serve (located where customers can reach the cigarettes themselves)

____ Behind the counter

____ In a locked case, but not behind the counter

____ In a location requiring clerk assistance

8. In which type of outlet are tobacco products more visible?

____ Convenience stores ____ Pharmacy ____ Gas Station

____ Small Market ____ Supermarket ____ Other: ______

9. Is one tobacco brand more visible that all others? YES NO If YES, which one? ______

10. Did the store have a WARNING sign posted near the tobacco products? YES NO

Comments:

Using the table below, tally the types and brands of the visible tobacco advertisements outside and inside the store.

Marlboro Camel Winston Kool Newport Other Spit Other Cigar Tobacco Tobacco ette Profession al signs/ads Store- made signs/ads Small billboards on top of the store or in the parking lot Promotion s for events, contests (e.g. Kool DJ) Total Each Column

Handout 20

Magazines, Newspapers, and other Printed Materials

If you decide to take a look at magazines and newspapers, look for the following:

Name of the Publication: ______Date of the Publication: ______

1. Was there an advertisement for cigarettes or other tobacco products including chew and cigars?

2. Was the advertisement in a “youth” magazine, a magazine that is targeting younger readers? YES NO If YES, which magazine?

3. Did the advertisement contain a cartoon character? YES NO If YES, which one?

4. Which brands of tobacco products did you see advertisements for in the publication?

Marlboro Camel Winston Kool Newport Other Spit Other Cigaret Tobacco Tobacco te Number of ads per brand/type

Handout 21 3. Know your Traditions and Culture

Personal knowledge of tradition and culture contributes to positive concept development. It also provides a framework for life choices, relationships and family. Understanding the history of natural tobacco in North America and its uses by American Indians is critical to making good choices about using tobacco culturally and medicinally.

3.1 Traditional Cultural and Medicinal Uses of Native Tobacco

Tobacco is a sacred plant of North America. Many of the Indian Nations that are native to North America used it in their ceremonies and as a medicine. It is one of the four sacred plants including cedar, sage, sweet grass, and tobacco. They are connected to the four directions and the four colors on the medicine wheel used by many North American Indian tribes to understand the world and the relationships that exist. These plants were given to the people to use to bring them closer to the Creator and to heal their bodies when they were sick or wounded. Because of their superior healing and spiritual qualities and purposes, these four plants stand out above the rest of the plant world.

Tobacco is also used to pray with, carrying our prayers with its smoke to the Creator and as a sacrament in ceremonies. Tobacco has been used by native people of North America for centuries as a poultice for healing bee stings and other insect bites, to draw the poison out of a wound, and to reduce the itching. There are also many additional uses that differ from tribe to tribe.

When youth learn more about the history and native purposes for tobacco, and the difference between commercial tobacco products and natural tobacco, they can begin to make better choices about their use of either type of tobacco. Securing the seeds and cultivation will teach youth about the plant, its’ care and nurturing, and properties.

It is also important to teach about the difference between the use of commercial and traditional cultural and medicinal tobacco in frequency, duration, and intensity of use. Commercial tobacco is often used daily several times and the cigarettes and chew tobacco is strong and has over 40,000 additives. Cultural and medicinal uses of tobacco use it very sparingly, not every day, and the tobacco used is used in small quantities.

Goals:

1. To introduce natural tobacco, its origin, history, and cultivation. 2. To teach American Indian youth about cultural and medicinal uses of natural tobacco by American Indian tribes. 3. To teach the differences between the use of commercial tobacco and the cultural use of natural tobacco.

22 Student Learning Objectives

1. Knowledge

To know and understand the origins and history of the tobacco native to North America. To identify American Indian tribal cultural and medicinal uses of tobacco in the past and present. To understand the difference in the impact on the body between the use of commercial tobacco products and natural tobacco used in a cultural or medicinal manner.

2. Skills

To be able to identify the tobacco plant native to North America. To be able to discuss the differences and similarities between different tribal uses of tobacco. Identify the value of continuing traditional American Indian uses of tobacco.

3. Personalization

Research and journal personal tribal uses of tobacco through discussions with family and tribal members as well as research on line and in print sources. Educate the American Indian community about the benefits of perpetuating the traditional American Indian uses of tobacco.

Activities (Suggested):

1. Re-introduce the medicine wheel and the four sacred colors, directions, ages, and other aspects of life based on its teachings that was presented in Unit 1. Introduce the four sacred medicines: cedar, sage, sweet grass, and tobacco.

2. Discuss both cultural/spiritual and medicinal uses of the four medicines. Talk about why cultural and medicinal uses are not addictive or harmful. Use the frequency, duration, and intensity chart.

3. Make leather pouches. Students can add some of all four medicines or whichever ones they want to their pouch.

4. Share historical roots of the tobacco of North America and uses by several tribes.

5. If possible have students cultivate natural tobacco in a garden or potted garden to make natural tobacco available to the community for ceremonial and medicinal use.

6. Have local elders and others join the group and share their experiences and knowledge of tobacco.

7. Video tape and document the interviews.

23 Materials

o Stories from literature about the origin of tobacco and traditional uses by various tribes. o The Sacred Tree, by Phil Lane o Tobacco Stories from MAYO o Leather, thread, needles, (and beads if desired) for pouches. o Sage, sweet grass, tobacco, and cedar for pouches o Tobacco seeds, plants, and leaves. o Tape recorders and video cameras for interviews, tapes, etc o Chart with intensity/frequency/duration information (See previous section handouts) o Traditional uses discussion with handouts o Materials to grow tobacco plants

Evaluation

1. Youth will be familiar with the history of Tobacco.

2. Youth will be able to relate at least four cultural medicinal uses of tobacco.

3. Youth will be able to discuss why commercial tobacco is at greater risk for causing cancer – intensity, duration, and frequency.

24 Cultural and Medicinal Uses of Tobacco By American Indians

Tobacco, Sweet Grass, Cedar, and Sage are the four most sacred and powerful of the medicines of the American Indian.

Tobacco paste put on an infant’s gums during teething. Tobacco paste put on wounds or injuries to provide some anesthesia. Thin tobacco solution to ward off insects (e.g., mosquito repellant). Teas were made with Tobacco for asthma, rheumatism, chills, and fevers. Tobacco was made into a poultice and placed on the temples for headaches. Tobacco smoke was blown into the ear for earaches. Poultices of tobacco were put directly on toothaches. Teas of Tobacco were made for intestinal disorders and childbirth pains. The Iroquois believed that the smoke carried their petition to the Creator. The Delaware sacrificed tobacco to ensure success in the hunt. The Crow cultivated to "ensure the welfare of the people". Tobacco was smoked in a pipe to offer prayers and to seal agreements. Tobacco Ties were made of cloth with Tobacco in them, tied to trees, and offered with prayers. Tobacco was used to bind agreements between tribes. Tobacco was also given as payment to a traditional healer

Various American Indian Tribes have used Tobacco in different ways throughout time. Some of the uses are medicinal. Other uses are ceremonial. These are examples of traditional uses from various tribes. The tribes are not noted as the uses are common. Details of ceremonial or medicinal uses when not noted are unknown. All traditional and medicinal uses should be done with instruction from someone who is knowledgeable in traditional uses. The information included here is not enough to instruct someone to use Tobacco safely and effectively. They are general examples and should not be used without additional instruction. Handout 25 Origins of Tobacco

There are many stories about the origin of Tobacco in North America. A few are included here for your reading. Ask your parents or grandparents if they know of the story of how tobacco came to their people. This way you will know your own story. If not, remember what you read here. It will help you to understand the gift of Tobacco.

Creation of Tobacco (Wisconsin Lac Du Flambeau Chippewa)

Wenebojo…walked along until he came to a lot of brush. He walked right into it. After he had passed through the bushes, Wenebojo turned around and looked back. There was a trail of red behind him going through the brush. Then Wenebojo thought of his uncles. He said, “When my uncles are out of tobacco and have nothing to smoke, they can always have these to smoke, and they will call them bakwecpakuzigunen.” Bakwec means “woods.” The word means “a stick that grows in the woods.” That’s the wild kinnickinnick.

Wenebojo walked on again until he came to a river. There he found some more brush and stics. He walked through it and then looked back again at the brush he’d been through. His scabs and his sores were hanging on all the sticks and brush. He thought about his uncles again. He said, “They will smoke these, and they will be sweet.” He named them gekadugnugekwukin. That means “speckled stick.” It’s another kind of kinnickinnick very hard to get around here now. It tastes very good and sweet.

The Wenebojo walked along again until he came to another bunch of brush. Then he walked spread-legged through it; and when he looked back, it was all red. Those were red bushed three or four feet high. White people sometimes plant them in front of their houses. It’s another kind of kinnikinnick. Wenebojo thought about his uncles again. “They can make these when they have nothing else to smoke.” He named them memiskwakwakin miskwabimizin. Thayt mean “red hardwood stick.” The miskwa that’s repeated in there means “red.”

From Victor Barnouw, Wisconsin Chippewa Myths and Tales and Their Relation to Chippewa Life, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press – Reprinted – 1992 - Anthology of Traditional Tobacco Stories, Columbia School of Social Work, New York, NY, 1992

Handout 26 The Great Gift Tobacco Many winters ago, a band of Iroquois, People of the Long House, were camped in a village on the Ohio River. One day as the people of the village were going about their regular work, a strange sound was heard coming from the river. The people forgot their activities and rushed to the riverbank to see where the strange sound was coming from. They stood looking at each other and listened to the weird sound. The noise sometimes sounded like the howl of a strange animal, and then again, it resembled the chant of singing people.

As the people stood listening to the peculiar music, a loud voice was heard coming from up the river. As they looked toward the sound of the voice, they saw floating toward them, a large canoe filled with strange beings. These peculiar people were eating a large kettle drum which was in the center of the canoe. They were chanting a strange song. By their peculiar dress, the singers appeared to be medicine men.

As the canoe floated toward the village…the loud voice was again heard coming from the canoe. It told the inhabitants of the village to go back to their homes and to remain indoors. It said that if they disobeyed, bad luck would come to them. The people became very frightened and most of them rushed to their houses. There were some who refused to be frightened by the strange beings. They stood on the bank of the river and watched the approaching canoe.

As the canoe floated by them, those men who remained on the riverbank fell down dead. The canoe with the strange singing men continued floating on downstream and disappeared around the bend in the river.

The next day…one of the relatives of the dead men organized a war party. In their canoe, they paddled down the river in search of the strange canoe. They were seeking revenge for the death of their relatives. After traveling for a day, they came upon the canoe floating in a sheltered bay. In each end of the canoe, fast asleep was one of the strange beings.

As the warriors looked at the peculiar beings, the voice was again heard coming from the canoe. The loud voice said that if these strange beings were destroyed, a great blessing would come to the People of the Longhouse. After the strange voice had ceased speaking, the warriors hid in the forests bordering the stream.

A single warrior approached the river. Taking a stone, he threw it at one of the beings who awoke with a shout. The single warrior stuck out his tongue at the strange creatures. He pretended to be frightened and ran away from them. Seeing this, the two beings beached their canoe and ran after the fleeing man. The warrior led them to a nearby bark house, and after he had decoyed them into it, he gave his war cry. With his war club, he faced his pursuers.

At the sound of their comrade’s war cry, the other warriors immediately came to his aid. They surrounded the two strange beings. In a short time, the two beings were killed. Gathering a great pile of brush and placing the two dead creatures upon it, the warriors set fir to the brush. Soon the two bodies were ashes. From the ashes of the dead bodies rose a strange plant. The strange voice was heard coming from the Earth. It instructed the warriors how to prepare the plant and how to use it. It was the great gift to the People of the Longhouse. “Great Gift, Tobacco” from tales of the Iroquois by Tehanetorens. Published by Akwesasne Notes, 1976 – Reprinted 1992 - Anthology of Traditional Tobacco Stories, Columbia School of Social Work, New York, NY, 199

Cultural and Medicinal Uses of Tobacco

Various American Indian Tribes have used Tobacco in different ways throughout time. Some of the uses are medicinal. Other uses are ceremonial. The following are examples of traditional uses from various tribes. The tribes are not noted as the uses are common. Details of ceremonial or medicinal uses when not noted are unknown. All traditional and medicinal uses should be done with instruction from someone who is knowledgeable in traditional uses. The information included here is not enough to instruct someone to use Tobacco safely and effectively. They are general examples and should not be used without additional instruction.

The Iroquois believed that the smoke carried their petition to the Creator. The Delaware sacrificed tobacco to ensure success in the hunt. The Crow cultivated to "ensure the welfare of the people". Tobacco was smoked in a pipe to offer prayers and to seal agreements. Tobacco Ties were made of cloth with Tobacco in them, tied to trees, and offered with prayers. Tobacco was used to bind agreements between tribes. Tobacco was also given as payment to a traditional healer obligating him/her to fulfill the request of the client. Tobacco was very powerful ceremonially to Indians and had an overall pervasive importance.

Handout 28 History of Tobacco

Native People of North, Central, and South America has a long history with Tobacco. Scientists have been studying very old samples of Tobacco seeds and have been trying to date them. So far, they have not been able to confirm dates for the actual age of Tobacco. They have dated the tobacco seeds back to the Mayans around 2,000 years ago. It is believed that Tobacco is much older and can be traced back to creation stories and over 8,000 years.

Tobacco is a strong plant and can be cultivated in a variety of climates. It was also traded amongst American Indians along with corn, flint, and shells to those who could not grow it. It was used by these Native People in ceremonies when healing tribal members, offered with prayers to the creator, and as a sacrament in annual rituals. The teachings were passed on generation after generation. Each tribe often has its own story of how tobacco came to the people and what it is used for.

Early writings by Christopher Columbus date back to 1492 when Tobacco was offered as a gift to the early European visitors. He and others write that they thought that it was a strong smoke. They adopted it and began using it for pleasure and recreation. Soon Tobacco’s medicinal properties became known to the Europeans and they began using it as a medicine. In the 1600s, Tobacco became a cure-all in England. Even school children smoke it in pipes to prevent illnesses.

Once it grew in popularity, it became a standard trade item. Soon companies began cultivating it and selling it in the international market. The first machines to manufacture cigarettes were invented in 1884. Prior to this all cigarettes were produced manually. The cigarette market quickly expanded as they became convenient and available.

The cigarette market grew in the early part of the 1900s when they were distributed to military men, sold to women, and laborers. In the 1950s when the health concerns began, there was a short setback. However, advertisers quickly learned how to overcome the 1964 Surgeon General’s Warnings on their products and sales have continued worldwide.

Handout 29 Instructions for Making Leather Pouches

To make a leather pouch, you will need the following supplies:

Two Pieces of leather at least 3” by 4” A long piece of leather-lace approximately ¼” wide and at least 12” long. Strong nylon thread either black or white Needles for sewing leather – glover needles Needles for sewing with beads Scissors

Directions

Cut a paper pattern the size that you want your pouch. Lay the pattern on the leather and cut out two pieces, one for the front and one for the back. Turn the pieces so that both smooth sides or both suede sides are facing each other. Sew the two pieces together with a whip-stitch. If desired, put beads on the edge of the pouch when sewing together. Turn pouch inside out after stitching if desired. Cut four to eight holes in the top of the pouch. Insert the leather lace through the holes and tie the top together.

4. Protect Your Family and Community

4.1. Second Hand Smoke - Personal and Public Policy

Secondhand smoke is the smoke that comes from the burning end of a commercial cigarette, cigar, or pipe, and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. It is also referred to as Environmental Tobacco Smoke or ETS. Secondhand smoke has twice as much tar and nicotine as the smoke inhaled through a filter. Secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 dangerous chemicals (200 are poisonous, and 50 are known to cause cancer.)

Non-smokers breathe in the toxic chemicals when around others who smoke. The risks from secondhand smoke are greater for young children and pregnant women. Many people smoke in their homes and cars, even when children and pregnant women are present.

Many states and tribes have passed public policy restricting smoking in public buildings and places and even in restaurants and other businesses. People have to make their own rules at home and in their cars to stop people from smoking there.

Goals: 1. To increase knowledge in American Indian youth about what Secondhand Smoke (SHS) is and how it hurts the human body.

2. To increase knowledge about how to reduce and eliminate SHS in the lives of American Indians in the Denver Metro Area.

Student Learning Objectives

1. Knowledge

To gain knowledge about the sources of Secondhand Smoke in the environment and how to it affects the pregnant woman, child, as well.

2. Skills

To learn how to reduce or eliminate SHS in the environment.

3. Personalization

Establish personal and family smoke free home and car policies.

Activities (Suggested):

31 1. Discuss Second Hand Smoke and its impact, including that on children, youth and pregnant women. Ask how many youth have asthma or other breathing problems themselves or in their families

2. Have students discuss which public places allow smoking cigarettes, cigars, and pipes.

3. Review fire and disaster exit plans for schools and homes. Talk about how youth may need an escape route or place to escape smoke if there is too much second hand smoke in their homes and work environments.

4. Share personal commitment pledges to eliminate Secondhand Smoke and encourage youth to share the information with their families.

Materials:

o Handout about Secondhand Smoke. o Information about Personal Pledges from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Evaluation:

1. Youth will be able to relate at least four results of being around secondhand smoke.

2. Youth will know what a personal policy is regarding Secondhand smoke.

3. Youth will know how to create smoke free places for themselves.

32 Secondhand Smoke

Children who breathe in cigarette smoke are more likely to suffer from

Asthma

Pneumonia

Ear Infections

Colds

Adults who breathe in smoke from cigarettes have a higher risk of

Þ Lung cancer

Þ Heart Disease

Þ Asthma

How do you begin to have a smoke-free home or car?

1. If you smoke, stop smoking in your home and car. Take it outside, away from children.

2. Ask others not to smoke in your house or car. Tell them it is for your children’s health. Tell them it is for your health.

3. Get rid of ashtrays.

4. Put up a sign to show that your home/car is smoke-free.

Handout

34 4.2. Family Together

American Indian culture and life is based on the family. What parents do, the children do. They live together and they learn together. When teaching American Indian youth about the Gift of Tobacco, it is important to also share the journey with the parents and family. In this way, they share the knowledge and the experience. Today some of the parents of Indian youth smoke cigarettes and chew tobacco while others don’t. Approximately 35% of the American Indian adults use commercial tobacco.

The Family Together events are designed to create opportunities for youth and their families, including their parents, to share what they have learned in the Keep Tobacco Sacred Program and to offer opportunities for them to learn more about the Gift of Tobacco.

Goals

1. To create opportunities for youth and their families to learn about commercial tobacco, traditional American Indian tobacco, and Media and Marketing in a non-threatening setting. 2. To create opportunities for families to set personal policies about smoke free homes and cars. 3. To create opportunities for participants, parents, youth and other family members to have access to services at all points on the continuum of care for tobacco cessation.

Student Learning Objectives

1. Knowledge: To create opportunities for families to:

Increase knowledge about resources in the community to assist in quitting commercial tobacco use Increase knowledge about commercial tobacco use and its effects on the boy. Increase knowledge about traditional medicinal and cultural uses of tobacco. Increase knowledge about the effects of SES and how to reduce it.

2. Skills: to create opportunities for families to:

Improve skills on how to access Quitting Support. To know how to reduce second hand smoke in the home environment

3. Personalization: to create opportunities for families to:

Make personal commitment to reduce second hand smoke in environment. Choose to quit, if you smoke.

Activities (Suggested):

The Family Event is to be held at the end of the sessions. The event is meant to be an opportunity for youth and their parents and siblings to come together and learn about the gift

35 of tobacco. This event should be a fun event that is geared to honor the youth and what they have learned and give them opportunities to share. The event can vary based on the needs and decisions of the group.

Youth can make Cultural Quit Kits and have other materials and resources available at all parent and family activities to offer support to parents and family members who are using commercial tobacco products. Youth should also plan the Family Event with the Project Facilitator.

Evaluation

1. Youth and their parents have time together to learn about the Gift of Tobacco.

2. Youth and their parents will have an opportunity to access cessation services.

3. Youth and their parents will have an opportunity to talk about Tobacco.

4. Youth and their parents will have an opportunity to learn about the benefits of quitting tobacco use.

Family Events should include a majority of the following elements:

Þ Have an activity that parents and youth can do together related to Tobacco. Þ Have guest speakers, videos, or other audio-visual presentation about Tobacco. Þ Have time for discussion about the Gift of Tobacco. Þ Have booths with individual counselors and resource persons with written literature about smoking cessation, the State of Colorado Quitline, and other supports and resources for parents at any stage along the Quitting continuum. Þ Be Fun!!!!

Suggested Family Events:

1. The Family Night can be an awards night to honor the youth. The youth can decide on theme and schedule. The schedule can include a youth presentation of pieces they created curing the course or a lesson that they want shared with the parents. Resources should be available at the event to connect parents and family members to cessation services as needed.

2. Native American Historian to speak on history of Native American tobacco and its uses. This can be a one time community-wide event or the use of a local elder or speaker and video to convey the same message.

3. Pow Wow to honor American Indian culture and family with booths and educational opportunities about commercial and natural tobacco. This can be also done on a class size basis or as a community. As a small group, activities can focus on culture and tobacco with craft activities to do with the participants as they learn about their tobacco cultural history.

4. Wellness Events with health screenings for blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, and others along with exercise opportunities, healthy eating opportunities, and education about tobacco cessation, traditional American Indian uses of tobacco, and educational sessions about tobacco. This is a community-wide event that may be hard to scale down. It may be done with other districts or Indian Education Programs.

5. Family Arts and Crafts Night where families gather together to learn how to make Indian crafts such as a leather pouch while learning about the difference between commercial tobacco use and traditional cultural and medicinal uses of native tobacco.

American Indian Cultural Quit Kits

Quit kits are resources that people trying to quit using commercial tobacco can use to help them get through the time until they can stop using commercial tobacco. They often include gum and mints to chew when the urge comes, items to keep your hands busy, a pack of cards with ideas to do when you want to smoke, small brochures and lists to help keep the mind focused on the goal.

American Indian cultural quit kits might include:

Gum, mints, sunflower seeds, and other items for chewing and to keep breath fresh

A tape or two of Indian music such as flute music, pow wow music, or stomp dance.

A bag or more of herbal tea.

An American Indian culturally-based resource booklet to help guide the thought process related to making major behavioral changes.

Materials to make a leather pouch to carry gum or other items to use when the urge to smoke cigarettes hits or to keep a pinch of Tobacco, Sweet Grass, Sage, or Cedar or all four.

Tobacco Ties – cloth squares with Tobacco in it and tied up to pray with.

A checklist to make a list of the reasons they want to quit.

A list of the benefits of quitting!!!!

The phone number of a counselor or the Quitline who could be there for them when they need someone to talk to about the urge to smoke.

Handout 38 Benefits of Quitting Commercial Tobacco Use

Within 20 minutes of quitting, blood pressure and pulse rate decrease.

Within 8 hours of quitting, carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in the blood return to normal.

Within 1 day of quitting, the likelihood of heart attack decreases

Within 2 days of quitting, nerve endings regenerate; sense of smell and taste improve.

Within 2 weeks, circulation improves and lung function increases.

After quitting for 1-9 months, coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breathe decrease.

Within 1 year of quitting, the likelihood of heart attack is cut in half.

Within 5 years of quitting stroke risk is reduced to the same levels as a non-smoker.

Within 10 years of quitting, risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a current smoker.

Within 15 years of quitting, risk of coronary heart disease and death become roughly equivalent to those who have never smoked.

Handout

39 5. Pre and Post Test Questions for Keep Tobacco Sacred

5.1. Pre and Post Tests

These questions can be used with the students before you start the first session and again after the last session. It will tell you a little about what the students have learned and retained. If you want you can add new questions of your own to make it fit your age group or new content that you add to the curriculum. The correct answers are marked with an asterik.

Have you ever seen a Medicine Wheel? 1. No 2. Yes* 3. Don’t know / not sure

Do you know what tribe you are? 1. No 2. Yes* 3. Don’t know / Not sure

Do you think cigarette and chewing tobacco companies add chemicals to the tobacco? 1. No 2. Yes* 3. Don’t know / Not sure

Do you think cigarettes and chewing tobacco are bad for you? 1. No 2. Yes* 3. Don’t know / Not sure

Does how often you smoke and how strong the cigarette is cause more harm to your body? 1. No 2. Yes* 3. Maybe 4. Don’t know / Not sure

Do you know what the Medicine Wheel means to American Indians? 1. A decoration on their clothing and hair. 2. That Indians invented the wheel. 3. A symbol that is sacred to different tribes.* 4. A circle of natural medicines. 5. Don’t know/not sure

Do all American Indian Tribes believe in the Medicine Wheel? 1. No* 2. Yes 3. Don’t know / Not sure

Can you explain to other people what it means to be American Indian? 40 1. No 2. Yes* 3. Don’t know / Not sure

What helps you make a good choice/decision? 1. A rushed deadline 2. Friends and family telling you what to do 3. Good information about the different choices* 4. Watching what people on television or movies do 5. Don’t know/not sure

The terms Frequency, Duration, and Intensity are used to describe which of the following? 1. How often people smoke/chew, what they smoke/chew and how much* 2. The arrival dates for tobacco products at the store 3. The quality of commercial tobacco products 4. How fast and how long each particular kind of cigarette burns 5. Don’t know/not sure

Which was a traditional medicinal use of tobacco by American Indian ancestors? 1. Headaches* 2. Cancer treatment 3. Blood pressure 4. Blood sugar / diabetes 5. Don’t know / not sure

Which is one of the primary traditional American Indian plant healers? 1. Cotton 2. Sage* 3. Anise 4. Chamomile 5. Don’t Know / Not Sure

Why is secondhand smoke more harmful to young children in comparison to adults? 1. Children don’t get enough exercise 2. Children’s lungs are not fully developed to defend against smoke* 3. Children are exposed to secondhand smoke while eating 4. They aren’t harmed more than adults unless the child is female 5. Don’t know/not sure

Which makes tobacco a bigger risk or “cause” of cancer? 1. A person smokes less than one pack a day 2. A person started to smoke when you were 21 years old 3. A person smokes Camels, Marlboros or menthol cigarettes* 4. A person started taking part in tobacco-related ceremonies at age 12 5. Don’t know / Not sure

What is the cause of most (~80%) cancers? 1. Family history 2. Daily behaviors* 3. Environmental pollution 4. Being exposed to radiation 41 5. Don’t Know / Not Sure

Habitual cigarette smoking causes what percentage of lung cancer? 1. 30% 2. 50% 3. 70% 4. 90%* 5. Don’t know / Don’t want to answer

When you quit using commercial tobacco products, what happens to your body? 1. Never heals from the damage done while you smoked 2. Begins to heal immediately after quitting and improves with time* 3. Continues to be damaged by the tobacco and can even get worse 4. Gradually recovers and eventually shows no long-term effects of smoking 6. Don’t Know / Not Sure

Keep Tobacco Sacred….

…. for you and your family

…. Future Generations!!

Native American Cancer Research 393 South Harlan, Suite 125 Lakewood, CO 80226 303-975-2449