REGINA – When the teenagers sally around the Smoky Mountain Chew stand, Stan Nelson makes a beeline for the youngsters.
As a former chair of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission for six years in the early 1990s, he knows these 15-year-old boys likely chew tobacco without realizing the harmful side effects.
Nelson, who sells a herbal based tobacco substitute, won’t sell his product to children, but he realizes young people chew tobacco because they see athletes and other adults doing it.
“It’s become much more broad based. It’s white collar because you can’t smoke in offices,” he said.
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“People are now switching to smokeless tobacco but the sad part of all this is people don’t understand smokeless tobacco is more harmful than cigarettes.”
While he was the chair of AADAC, it was learned that people start chewing tobacco on average between seven and 14 years of age. People think it is less harmful than smoking but it is equally addictive because it contains nicotine. As more people give up smoking, they switch to chewing tobacco believing it is less harmful for them.
He has sold his product for the last 10 years. It provides many of the same sensations as a good chew without the harmful side effects.
Smoky Mountain Chew contains cayenne pepper to give it some kick, corn silk, ginseng, molasses, caramel colour, glycerine, salt and flavours like cinnamon and wintergreen. It contains no nicotine.
“You don’t have to spit because it is a food product,” said Nelson.
It comes in five flavours and looks like chewing tobacco. It produces no stains on the teeth or lips and no harmful carcinogens are released that lead to cancer of the lip, tongue or throat.
Included in his display are full colour photographs of cancer sufferers who have been disfigured by the disease.
Nelson’s company offers a program to help people wean themselves from tobacco by mixing the chews together and gradually removing the tobacco altogether.
“The key is you have to stick with it,” he said.
Nelson hopes to sell the product in India where it is estimated more than 100 million people chew tobacco.
He quit smoking at the age of 19 after puffing for eight years. He is 65 now and chews his own product.
This past year AADAC launched an anti-tobacco campaign including extensive information aimed at teenagers about spit tobacco.
Called Alberta Spit Tobacco Education Program, it is a partnership between AADAC, the American National Spit Tobacco Education Program and regional health authorities. ASTEP focuses on youth prevention and targets areas of high use, including rural communities, and sports like hockey and rodeo.
Spit tobacco is a mixture of tobacco, nicotine, sweeteners, abrasives, salts and chemicals. It comes in the form of chew or snuff.
When the product is chewed, moisture releases nicotine, which goes through the lining of the mouth and nose and into the bloodstream. It also causes a faster heartbeat and increased blood pressure.
A person who uses eight to 10 dips or chews a day receives the same amount of nicotine as a smoker who smokes 30-40 cigarettes a day.
AADAC has found spit tobacco is used more commonly on the Prairies than in the rest of Canada. Spit tobacco is often flavoured with licorice, cherry or mint, and sweetened with molasses or sugar, flavours that appeal to children.
