PREVENTION

Stopping tobacco use from happening.

Wabash County Tobacco-Free Coalition

Commercial tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Despite progress in reducing cigarette smoking and related diseases in the past few decades, these reductions have not benefited populations equally.

For decades, tobacco companies have used promotions, targeted marketing, and other tactics to unfairly increase access to and appeal of tobacco products for certain groups. Those groups include young people, people who live in low-income communities, and people who are African American or Black, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, or LGBTQ+.

YOUTH PREVENTION

Tobacco continues to be used by a large population of our youth despite known dangers. Studies show that few take up tobacco after the age of 18; most who become addicted to nicotine do so as adolescents.

Prevention can take place at the school or community level. Merely educating potential smokers about health risks has not proven effective. Successful evidence-based interventions aim to reduce or delay initiation of smoking, alcohol use, and illicit drug use, and otherwise improve outcomes for children and teens by reducing variable risk factors and reinforcing protective factors. Risk factors for smoking include having family members or peers who smoke, being in a lower socioeconomic status, living in a neighborhood with high density of tobacco outlets, not participating in team sports, being exposed to smoking in movies, and being sensation-seeking.219 Although older teens are more likely to smoke than younger teens, the earlier a person starts smoking or using any addictive substance, the more likely they are to develop an addiction. Males are also more likely to take up smoking in adolescence than females.

Prevention experts believe that tobacco control efforts directed at adult smokers have little change to progress beyond the current level of success. If additional progress is to be made to prevent individuals from smoking, tobacco control efforts need to be focused on youth.

COMMUNITY PREVENTION

The CDC has determined that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The total economic cost of smoking is more than $600 billion a year, including direct medical care for adults and lost productivity.

In Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends statewide programs that combine and coordinate community-based interventions that focus on the following areas.

Preventing initiation of tobacco use among youth and young adults
Promoting quitting among adults and youth
Eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke, and
Identifying and eliminating tobacco-related disparities among population groups

Comprehensive tobacco control programs most often include administrative support, surveillance, evaluation, and program monitoring. In the United States, programs are typically organized and funded at the state level to provide a platform for effective implementation

ADULT PREVENTION

The medical consequences of tobacco use—including secondhand exposure—make tobacco control and smoking prevention crucial parts of any public health strategy. Since the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health in 1964, states and communities have made efforts to reduce initiation of smoking, decrease exposure to smoke, and increase cessation. Researchers estimate that these tobacco control efforts are associated with averting an estimated 8 million premature deaths and extending the average life expectancy of men by 2.3 years and of women by 1.6 years.18 But there is a long way yet to go: roughly 5.6 million adolescents under age 18 are expected to die prematurely as a result of an illness related to smoking.13

Prevention can take the form of policy-level measures, such as increased taxation of tobacco products; stricter laws (and enforcement of laws) regulating who can purchase tobacco products; how and where they can be purchased; where and when they can be used (i.e., smoke-free policies in restaurants, bars, and other public places); and restrictions on advertising and mandatory health warnings on packages. Over 100 studies have shown that higher taxes on cigarettes, for example, produce significant reductions in smoking, especially among youth and lower-income individuals.217 Smoke-free workplace laws and restrictions on advertising have also shown benefits.218