Pinehouse Mayor Mike Natomagan in Ottawa in 2016. Photo by Joel Willick.
The mayor of the northern Village of Pinehouse says their decision to hold an addiction awareness month has had a tremendous positive effect on the community.
For the past five years, the northern village has urged their community to abstain from drugs and alcohol during the entire month of November. The decision came from a desire to extend addictions awareness week into an entire month.
“When we first tried it, we immediately saw better outcomes for our community when we lived clean for an entire month,” said Natomagan.
According Natomagan, the community has seen a direct impact from this pledge. He says they have seen better school attendance and actually had less visits to the local health centre.
“Our records indicated being alcohol and drug-free for an entire month indicated better outcomes in life,” said Natomagan.
As the community is set to entire another month-long trek into drug and alcohol abstinence, Natomagan is confident they will continue to see the positive effects.
Several events are planned in the community throughout the entire month.