New Anti-Smoking Agency Ready to Fire Up

Ventura County’s newest government agency opened Monday, offering information, counseling and treatment assistance for people who want to kick the tobacco habit.

“We’re here to help people stop or never start smoking,” said Bill Miley, coordinator of the Ventura County Tobacco Education and Control Program. “This is clearly a dangerous substance.”

The program’s $460,000 budget comes from a 25-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes approved by voters in 1988 as part of Proposition 99. It will provide education for clubs, community gatherings, churches, youth groups and PTAs, Miley said.

It also will work in conjunction with separate anti-smoking programs run by most school districts. “We hope to . . . coordinate with the schools so that when one is running its program, we can start our campaign in the same area at the same time and bombard the community,” said Miley, who teaches a class about drug and alcohol addiction at Ventura College.

In addition to working with groups and schools, staff members will mail informational brochures and anti-smoking information.

“One thing I’m interested in doing,” Miley said, “is sending out a flyer listing all of the surgeon general’s warnings appearing on cigarette cartons and explaining what they mean.

“For instance, one warning says that carbon monoxide is harmful to health. But do people truly know how it affects their body? People have a lot of information, but what they don’t know is how this knowledge is relevant to their lives.”

Although the program officially got under way Monday, it will offer limited services until four open staff positions are filled and permanent office space is found. The program is temporarily located at the public health administration office at 3161 Loma Vista Road in Ventura.

Eventually, the program will offer one-on-one counseling for people who want to quit smoking. Some clients will be referred to the program from the Ventura County Medical Center and Ventura County Public Health Services.

A total of $50,000 of the program’s funds have been set aside to pay the cost of stop-smoking clinics for people who can prove financial need. The cost of a typical smoking cessation clinic is $300.

The program has earmarked $50,000 for Clinicas del Camino Real, a group of three medical clinics in Oxnard, Fillmore and Saticoy that are used primarily by Latinos.

“We will be offering educational and counseling services . . . especially to youngsters, farm workers, and women of child-bearing age,” said Jack Hinojosa, a clinic manager.

Hinojosa said the clinics’ bilingual staffs are better equipped than the county agency to educate the Latino community. “We’re taking the burden off the county,” Hinojosa said.

Jean Scott, program director for the Ventura County chapter of the American Cancer Society, said smoking education should be aimed at minority populations and youth because they are the main targets of tobacco advertising.

Felix Jones, who is on the board of directors of the newly formed African-American Health Promotion Assn., agreed.

The countywide group was recently awarded $100,000 of Proposition 99 money directly from the state.

“Perhaps some people who have economic needs . . . get their thrills and enjoyment from things that are within their financial reach,” such as cigarettes, Jones said.