Author: Judy Martinson

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12

April–June 2017

ROLETTE COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH

Tobacco Coupons:
How low can they go?

Tobacco Industry Dollars Spent

Coupons are one of the tobacco industry’s top marketing strategies. From 2013 to 2014, the industry doubled its annual investment in coupons, which together with discounts make up more than 86% of its entire marketing expenditure in one year.
While the Surgeon General recommends a pack price of $10, the average pack price in the United States is about $6 per pack. It isn’t hard to see why Big Tobacco invests so much in stashing prices: the smoking rate is almost three times higher among households earning less than $20,000 a year compared to those earning more than $1000,000 a year. Coupons and discounts threaten to counteract the impact of tobacco taxes and raising the price of tobacco products, which is one of the most effective ways to drive down the smoking rate, especially among young people.
While tobacco marketing restrictions implemented over the years, like those in the Master Settlement Agreement, have resulted in changes to some of big Tobacco’s marketing practices, coupons have survived. Here, a selection of recent coupons reveals how the industry drops pack prices to as low as $1 or $2, uses buy-one-get-one promotions and offers sweepstakes and other giveaways with coupons.
Truth initiative – Feb 9, 2017

Big Tobacco means Big Money. Each year, the tobacco industry spends $9.5 billion marketing its products in the US. That’s over 23 million dollars a day or about one million dollars every hour!
In North Dakota alone, the tobacco industry spends 34.1 million dollars per year. The most vulnerable members of our society—children—are more susceptible to advertising as well. Studies have shown that kids are three times as sensitive to tobacco advertising as adults.
In 2014 the tobacco industry spent $22.0 million lobbying Congress.
BreatheND.com

ROLETTE COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH

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Protect Our Kids

Smokers start young. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nearly 90% of adult smokers start before the age of 18. Because their brains are still forming, adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the addictive effects of nicotine. These facts present both a problem and an opportunity for a solution. The problem is that young people who try tobacco and other nicotine products can easily get hooked. The solution is keeping young people tobacco-free and nicotine-free through the critical adolescent and young adult years.
What you can do-
Talking to your kids about tobacco can help them understand its danger and help them make the choice to be tobacco-free for life.
Start early
By the time they’re five or six years old, children can understand simple messages about healthy choices. Tell them that tobacco is harmful, can make them sick, and must be avoided in all its forms. With all the new tobacco and nicotine products available, it’s important to go beyond talking about cigarettes. Many other tobacco products are flavored and packaged like candy. Educate your children on the harms of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
Keep At It
The “tobacco talk” isn’t a one-time issue. Kids will be exposed to tobacco products and marketing, and as they get older they may be pressured by their peers to try smoking or other tobacco products. Be consistent and reinforce the message over time.
Give Them More Information
As they get older, provide more specific information about why tobacco is harmful; the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other diseases. Show them “Tips from Former Smokers” videos of real people who have been harmed by tobacco. Be specific about how it could harm them, such as reducing their ability to play sports or engage in other activities they enjoy. Kids age 10-12 can understand the concept of addiction. Tell them that nicotine is a drug, and using it can make you crave it and make it hard to stop.
Set a Good Example
Keep your home smoke-free. If you smoke, quit and tell them why you’re quitting. Explain that it’s hard, and if they never start, they’ll never have to struggle with quitting. If you have friends or family who smoke, ask them not to do so in your home, and explain the harms of secondhand smoke to your kids. Share stories of family members who have been harmed by tobacco use.
Talk about Tobacco Tactics
Tobacco companies need replacement smokers. Tell your kids they’re being targeted. Show them how candy and fruit-flavored products and slick marketing campaigns are aimed at tricking them into using tobacco. Talk to them about the harms of all tobacco products, including small cigars, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes. Tell them smoking doesn’t make you cool. It makes you a tool of the tobacco industry. Challenge them to show they’re smarter than the tobacco companies and can’t be tricked or manipulated into using tobacco or nicotine products.
Encourage Them to be Tobacco-Free Advocates
Kids are heavily influenced by their peers. Encourage your kids to participate in tobacco-free programs, activities and organizations. Show them tobacco-free videos made by other kids their age. Explain how they can help their friends make smart choices, and how they can be part of a movement to “Finish It” and keep their generation tobacco free for life.
BreatheND.com

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12

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Secondhand Smoke Facts

Secondhand smoke harms children and adults, and the only way to fully protect nonsmokers is to eliminate smoking in all homes, worksites, public places.
You can take steps to protect yourself and your family from secondhand smoke, such as making your home and vehicles smoke-free.
Separating smokers from nonsmokers, opening windows, or using air filters does not prevent people from breathing secondhand smoke. Most exposure to secondhand smoke occurs in homes and workplaces. People are also exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, such as casinos, as well as in cars and other vehicles.
People with lower income and lower education are less likely to be covered by smoke-free laws in worksites, restaurants, and bars.
There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure; even brief exposure can be harmful to health. Since 1964, approximately 2,500,000 nonsmokers have died from health problems cause by exposure to secondhand smoke.

25% of all Overdoses are from Heroin

Opioid medications bind to the areas of the brain that control pain and emotions, driving up levels of the feel good hormone dopamine in the brain’s reward areas and producing an intense feeling of euphoria.
As the brain becomes used to the feelings, it often takes more and more of the drug to produce the same levels of pain relief and well-being, leading to dependence and, later, addiction.
According to CNN-America’s opioid epidemic continues: The latest numbers from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, release show that one in four drug overdoses in 2015 was related to heroin. In 1999, just 6% of all overdoses were related to the drug. When looking at overdoses overall, opioid-related deaths represented the majority. In 2015, overdoses involving opioids represented 60% of all overdose deaths, a significant jump from about 50% in 2010. Opioids include heroin as well as drugs with a similar chemical structure, such as oxycodone and illicit synthetics like fentanyl.
csninfo@edc.org

Health Effects in Adults who have never smoked, secondhand smoke can cause:
Heart disease
Lung cancer
Stroke
CDC.gov

ROLETTE COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH

Tobacco Prevention and Control

211 1st Ave NE
Box 726
Rolla, ND 58367
Phone: 701-477-5646
Fax: 701-477-9578
jumartinson@nd.gov

An initiated measure approved by voters provides funding to Rolette County Public Health to diminish the toll of tobacco in our state by addressing the number one preventable cause of death and disease: TOBACCO.
BreatheND is the official website and logo of the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy, a division of the tobacco Prevention and Control Executive Committee.
North Dakota voters passed a statewide initiated measure that created the Tobacco Prevention and Control Executive Committee and requires a portion of the money North Dakota receives from tobacco settlement dollars to be used for tobacco prevention and control programs.
The Center, along with the North Dakota Department of Health, local public health units and other partners, is charged with implementing North Dakota’s comprehensive state tobacco prevention plan: Saving Lives-Saving Money.

Hand Sanitizer Awareness

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are meant to help keep kids safe from germs, but when kids misuse them, the sanitizers may cause harm. Cases have been reported of kids with eye irritation, vomiting, and even a few cases of kids ingesting sanitizer and winding up in a coma, according to a new report.
Hand sanitizers that contained alcohol were cited in more than 65,000 of the calls, the CDC researchers said. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers contain either ethanol, which is found in alcoholic beverages, or isopropyl alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol. Sanitizers can contain 60 to 95% alcohol by volume; non-alcohol based hand contain other chemicals.
Although washing hands with soap and water is preferred, the researchers said alcohol-based hand sanitizers are the next best option for hand hygiene.
Ensuring that children use these hand sanitizers correctly, under adult supervision, could help reduce problems, the researchers wrote. Hand sanitizers should also be stored where young children cannot reach them, they added.
csninfo@edc.org