Chippewa Housing Authority Announces Smokefree Progress
The Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Housing Authority (CHA) in Wisconsin announced that some of their housing units are now smokefree. In an announcement to tenants the CHA states, “Homes will be going smokefree. These are new homes and we (sic) don’t want them ruined with cigarette smoke! Please smoke outside!”
Tribal members on Facebook responded with support and shared the following: “It shouldn’t be too hard to smoke a cigarette outside. They should’ve put this in place years ago.” “There should be rules to not smoke in the units.” “Agree with it. When you move in a home after someone was smoking in it you can tell. The smoke smell gets in everything.” “Why would you want your NEW home smelling like cigarettes anyways?” “It’s about damn time.”
The American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation and the Reclaim Sacred Tobacco Coalition supports the Tribal announcement to implement smokefree housing and commends Tribes using their sovereign policy-making authority to protect citizens from the harms of secondhand smoke.
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About Reclaim Sacred Tobacco Coalition Clinton Isham, Tribal Relations Consultant with ANRF, and Hershel Walker of Air Is Life, organize this coalition with Tribal leaders and community members who are currently navigating the complexities within the Tribal policy process. The coalition provides technical assistance (e.g., survey design, policy templates, videos, and more) to help increase commercial tobacco policies and eliminate secondhand smoke exposure in Indian Country. The intent of the Reclaim Sacred Tobacco group is to provide tools that reshape health inequities, eliminate commercial tobacco use, and decolonize tobacco entirely from Tribal communities.
The next Reclaim Sacred Tobacco call will take place on Friday, January 24, at 11:00am Central Time.
ANRF
American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation (ANRF) is a 501c3 non-profit educational and advocacy group that has been working for over 40 years to protect everyone’s right to breathe nontoxic air in workplaces and public places, from offices and airplanes to restaurants, bars, and casinos. ANRF has continuously shined a light on the tobacco industry’s interference with sound and life-saving public health measures and successfully protected 61% of the population with local or statewide smokefree workplace, restaurant, and bar laws. ANRF aims to close gaps in smokefree protections for workers in all workplaces, including bars, music venues, casinos, and hotels. For more information, please visit https://no-smoke.org/. ANRF projects include https://smokefreecasinos.org/ and https://smokefreemusiccities.org/.
