I guess I never decided to try smoking because my whole family smokes, most of my friends as well. I don’t see the point of it, it’s just inhaling and exhaling chemicals. Smoking is one of the most common causes of illness in Indigenous people these days! Smoking affects everyone even if you’re a non-smoker. […]
The silly season is well and truly upon us: with parties everywhere we look. It’s also a time of the year in which emotions like stress and sadness tend to emerge ( not to mention too much booze) – all of which can make us start smoking again long after we’ve quit. To help you […]
Most of my friends smoke. I remember one afternoon when I was about 13 or 14 years old. I went down to the beach and played softball with the other kids in the community. Two of my friends started talking about smoking and why people do it. One of them thought it was fun and […]
Everyone in my family smokes. I use to learn about the effects of smoking at school and share it with everyone at home thinking I would make a change. I got angry at my cousins who tried to smoke and thought it was fun. My aunty’s said that they would think about giving up because […]
As far as I remember I grew up with my family in North East Arnhem Land. I was born in Bendigo, Victoria but have lived most of my life here in Arnhem Land. When I was young I remember living with my mum and dad in my immediate family’s community of Galupa (near the refinery […]
Introducing the No Smokes blogger for December… Melanie Rarrtjiwuy Herdman Melanie is a 25-year-old Yolngu woman who was born in the regional town of Bendigo, Victoria. She moved to North East Arnhem Land when she was a baby and grew up in the communities of Yirrkala and Gunyangara . Melanie now has two children; a 2-year-old and […]
New research has shown that smoking is even worse for you that we thought. In he past it was estimated that half of all smokers will die because of their habit, but it’s now believed around 2 out of every 3 smokers will die early. The study followed 200,000 smokers over four years and found […]
Myth: The damage from smoking can never be undone. A smoker’s lungs can never recover. That’s not true! The picture above is of the tiny hairs in your lungs called cilia, which protect the lungs from infection, and clean out all the gunk. These hairs are destroyed by the poisons in cigarette smoke, but when […]
Tell your friends, family, and people you work with that you’re trying to quit smoking. Having the encouragement and support of people around you could make the difference. If you have friends or family who are smokers, ask them not to smoke around you. If they are your real friends, they will respect your wish […]
If you really want to scare someone when you go trick-or-treating this Halloween, you could try one of these disgusting masks that show how smoking can make you look. Special effects experts used the photos from cigarette packet warning labels to make these masks, which show what mouth and throat cancers look like, as well as […]
Throughout high school I always told myself, “I don’t need a cigarette, I want a cigarette”. It wasn’t until I tried to kick the habit that I realised that that I really need a cigarette and don’t want one. The first time I tried to quit smoking, I went out with friends and they were […]
I come from a rather large family, I have two sisters and two brothers, all of them have kids, I have a total 15 nieces and 7 nephews. My nieces and nephews are very important to me; I don’t want them to pick up smoking, I don’t want them to feel persuaded into doing something […]
My parents didn’t know that I was smoking; well maybe they had an idea but just didn’t want to believe it. I went to my dad’s after school one day and asked him if he could drop me home (as I was living at my brother’s house). My dad lives in a upstairs house, as […]
When I was in year ten (aged 16), my third year of full time smoking, I noticed that it was becoming expensive to keep this habit. I reassessed what I spent my money on. At that time in my life, I would always be on the phone to my ex-boyfriend. Credit would cost me $30 […]
I was sitting there, lit up the smoke and continued to take a drag, all eyes were on me to see if I knew what I was doing. I have never in my life coughed so much that it hurt. Everyone laughed as they do! I was so embarrassed; I made a promise to myself […]
Year 8, the start of high school! My first day of school, I was lining up in the canteen line and some random comes up to me and asks if they could buy a cigarette, I told him that I don’t smoke and he gave me this weird look and said in an arrogant tone […]
