Up to 54% of Aboriginal teens in B.C. smoke tobacco, says health authority

New statistics about Indigenous youth and commercial tobacco usein British Columbia havesparkeda video commercial and a campaignshowing its lethalcapabilities.

Indigenous teenssmoke at a rate 2-3 times higher than other teens in B.C., and up to 54 per cent of teenagers are users of tobacco, according to the First Nations Health Authority.

The FNHA collected the stats from Indigenous youth across the province and decided to embark on a cessation campaign led by Indigenous youth

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Evan Adams says the statistics and the accompanying video tell a story.

"Education and healthknowledgecan save lives," saysAdams.

"It'skind ofsad to remind people that smoking has a cost and it's one that they don't have to pay," he added.

Adams says one of the 30-secondPSA'suses zombies as a metaphor to explain what could happen to a person if theysmoke cigarettes for recreational purposes. It says youthbecome "mindless" and "uncontrollable" when they smoke.

The campaign is called "Youth Respecting Tobacco."Traditionally,someIndigenous peoplein BCused tobacco ceremonially,but through this campaign,Indigenous youth are calling for a return to those traditional ways,bynot smoking it for recreational purposes.

For Adamsit's also about seeing themselves reflected on screen inthe way they want to be seen, and encouraging other youth to do the same.

"In the past when we tried to talk to youth about smoking cessation, it had some effect but maybe not a complete and total effect, so one of our ideas was to hand it over to youth and see what would they do to protect each other," Adam said.

The campaign, which includes a video contest on social media runs from March 19 to June 19, 2017.