Although the rates among adults and high school students are at an all-time low for cigarette use, much work is left to be done to counter the current epidemic with e-cigarette/JUUL use among youth and to keep alert of the ever evolving tobacco/nicotine product market. The 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) results are cause for concern. The survey revealed that from 2017 to 2018 there was a 78% increase among high school students who use e-cigarette products, from 11.7% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2018.

• Statewide Sub-Grantees:
• Community Based Sub-Grantees
• Local Chapters of National Organizations: American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, American Heart Association
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• Harding University
• Arkansas Center for Health Improvement
• Other Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Programs:  Chronic Disease; Women, Infants, and Children; Hometown Health Improvement; Oral Health; and  School Health Services
• Arkansas Department of Education
• Arkansas Minority Health Commission

Evidence-based interventions of what works in public health to reduce tobacco use:

• Prevent people from starting to smoke. Raising the price of tobacco products can help prevent people from starting to use tobacco. For instance, adolescent tobacco use drops by a median of 3.7 percent for every 10 percent price hike. Additionally, mass-reach health communication interventions, primarily television broadcasts, have proven effective to reduce initiation among young people. Joint interventions such as mass-media campaigns combined with price increases and school- and community-based education have also proven effective in decreasing adolescent tobacco use by nearly 2.5 percent.

• Help people quit using tobacco products of all types. Strategies that can help more people quit using tobacco include raising produce prices and reducing financial barriers to treatment. Several recommended strategies work best in combination with others, such as mass media campaigns, mass-reach health communications interventions (primarily television broadcasts), mobile phone-based support programs, and systems that remind health care providers to counsel patients about quitting. For instance, combining mass-reach communication interventions that combine cessation messages with a quitline number and that are disseminated through multiple channels have been shown to increase call volume by a median of 132 percent.

• Reduce people’s exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking policies such as bans and restrictions are particularly effective for curbing exposure to second-hand smoke. Studies show that smoking bans can reduce the level of ETS components (e.g. nicotine vapor) by a median of 72 percent within 12 months. Smoking bans, which entirely prohibit smoking in defined areas, reduce ETS exposure more than smoking restrictions, which limit smoking to designated areas.

• Keep minors from obtaining tobacco products. Stronger laws for retailers who sell tobacco, active enforcement of these laws, and retailer education can help keep tobacco products out of young people’s hands. These efforts can decrease tobacco sales to minors by a median of 33.5 percent and cut their tobacco use by a median of 5.8 percent.

• Decrease tobacco use in the workplace. Strategies to boost quit rates in the workplace include policies restricting or banning smoking indoors and in public places, and incentive programs that reward workers for cutting back their tobacco use. Smoke-free policies can also save employers and workers money by reducing health care costs. For instance, quit rates can increase by a median of 6.4 percent among workers using these strategies. An employer could potentially save $10,246 per year for every smoker who quits due to a smoke-free workplace policy.

The Community Guide: What Works Tobacco Use: https://www.thecommunityguide.org/sites/default/files/assets/What-Works-Factsheet-Tobacco.pdf

Strategy 1: Provide education on the strengths and weaknesses of statewide legislation that would serve to remove current exemptions for Act 8.

Strategy 2: Increase number of municipalities with comprehensive tobacco-free policies.

Strategy 3: Collaborate with the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) to promote youth tobacco prevention and education engagement interventions into existing tobacco education curriculum. (Interventions such as integrating CATCH My Breath into tobacco education lesson plans, TPCP educational materials, and other lessons vetted by ADE and TPCP).

Strategy 4: Identify and collaborate with statewide partners who work with municipalities to develop healthier communities and facilitate the integration of tobacco control in to the framework.

Strategy 5: Provide education on the strengths and weaknesses of statewide legislation that would increase the age to purchase tobacco/nicotine products to 21.

Strategy 6: Increase the number of municipalities with T21 ordinances. 

Center for Disease Control Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/stateandcommunity/best_practices/pdfs/2014/comprehensive.pdf

The Community Guide: What Works Tobacco Use: https://www.thecommunityguide.org/sites/default/files/assets/What-Works-Factsheet-Tobacco.pdf

Links to Statewide Programs

Arkansas Tobacco Control (ATC): https://www.atc.arkansas.gov/

Project Prevent Youth Coalition (PPYC): http://www.sosprojectprevent.com/

Arkansas Cancer Coalition (ACC): http://www.arcancercoalition.org/

Arkansas Tobacco Control Coalition (ArTCC): http://cleartheairarkansas.com/

Minority Sub-Recipient Grant Office (MISRGO): http://www.misrgo.org/aboutus.html

Minority Research Center at UAPB: http://www.minorityresearchcenter.org/

Graduate Addition Studies Program: http://addictionstudies.uapb.edu/

Links to National Partners

Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids: https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/index.php

Americans for Non-Smokers Rights: https://no-smoke.org/