Making a Difference : Tobacco Education: Clearing the Air in Orange County

Every county in California coordinates education activities to help people quit smoking and to keep others from starting. In Orange County the overall smoking prevalence has dropped by 6% in the last two years, making its current 18% rate the lowest in the state. The decline, public health experts say, resulted in part from outreach efforts by the county’s Tobacco Use Prevention Program which works in partnership with community organizations, schools, businesses and a coalition of volunteers to develop approaches for reducing tobacco use. Funding for Orange County’s program and others like it throughout the state comes from Proposition 99 revenue, the 25-cent tobacco tax initiative Californians overwhelmingly supported in 1988. The initiative specifically outlined how much revenue tobacco education programs would receive, but these allocations have been reduced in the past. Groups like the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the American Lung Assn. argue such alterations are illegal. Others like the California Medical Assn. and state hospitals say more Prop 99 money should fund medical services for the poor. And lawmakers like Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento) say the issue is deciding how best to use shrinking tax monies. The Legislature has yet to determine how Prop. 99 funds will be allocated for the next fiscal year.

HOW A COUNTY KICKS THE HABIT

Orange County currently has 46 different education programs developed in response to its residents’ tobacco use patterns. Here’s a sample:

YOUTH PREVENTION

Issue: In Orange county about 70% of 14-16 years olds say they can purchase cigarettes from convenience stores even though selling tobacco to minors is illegal.

Response: Teens Not Tobacco, a new program, trains teenagers to educate convenience store vendors about state laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors. More than 30 teens have talked to more than 60 convenience store managers.

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Issue: Nearly half of all employees in Orange county workplaces without smoking restrictions are exposed to smoke; where tobacco use restrictions have been implemented only 12.5% of the workforce is exposed to smoke.

Response: Work Site Consulting assists businesses and schools to create smoke free environments. To date, more than 300 Orange County companies have tightened their smoking regulations and 30 companies with 500 or more employees have gone smoke-free.

CESSATION

Issue: Only 36% of Orange county smokers reported that they were advised to quit smoking during their most recent doctor’s visit; 43% of Orange County smokers who were advised to stop smoking during their last visit to a health care professional tried to quit.

Response: Training more than 500 county health care professionals about how to help their patients stop smoking has brought information to more than 40,000 smokers.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

Issue: Smoking among Orange county’s young, urban Hispanic children is increasing.

Response: Community-based groups receive grants up to $20,000 to develop outreach programs that promote tobacco-free lifestyles. Among them: St. Jeanne de Lestonnac Free Clinic’s “Neighborhood Free from Tobacco” program in Santa Ana discourages teens from smoking by approaching their families in a bilingual, door-to-door information campaign about how to maintain a tobaccoless home and community.

A Mandate Going Up In Smoke?

Proposition 99 passed by a 58% to 42% margin and included fixed percentages describing how the tax money was to be distributed. Here’s how spending was approved by the voters and where the money goes today:

Proposition 99 proceeds

1988 1994 Health Education 20% 13% Medical Services 45 52 Research 5 5 Environment 5 5 Unallocated 25 25

TO GET INVOLVED

For information about Orange county’s tobacco education programs or how to stop smoking call (714) 514-1444. For information about programs elsewhere call (800) 766-2888. For information in Spanish call (800) 45NO-FUME.