Smoking cessation program taking hold

Everyone in Klamath County deserves to breathe tobacco-free air, and the Klamath County Public Health Department hopes to make that a reality.
Molly Jespersen, the promotion and prevention program manager for the health department, and her co-worker Jennifer Little, a program coordinator, are working to encourage and support the 21 percent of adults in the county to stop smoking. Marlboro Cigarettes online for low prices.

That 21 percent is high in comparison to the 16 percent of Oregonians that smoke, and Jespersen said tobacco companies spend big money on aggressive marketing to keep people, including youth, as customers.

Tobacco companies spent $266 every second in 2011 on marketing, according to the Centers for Disease Control, Jespersen said, which has a particularly significant impact on young people.

Across the county, about 80 percent of smokers took up the habit before the age of 18, and about 99 percent of smokers started before they were 26, Jespersen said. Those numbers are from the 2012 Surgeon General’s Report.

“It’s really important that we keep protecting our vulnerable youth,” Jespersen said.

There are more than 10,000 smokers in Klamath County, and more than 3,500 people suffer from a serious illness caused by tobacco, according to numbers from the Tobacco Prevention and Education Program under the Oregon Health Authority.

But there is a lot the local community can do to help decrease smoking rates, Jespersen said, and while there has been some progress, there is still a lot of work to do.

“Our work is not over,” she said.

Cigarette Prices Increase, Graphic Smoking Warnings in Philippines

Higher cigarette prices and graphic warnings will lessen the number of youth smokers in the country, according to a recent survey commissioned by the Health Justice Philippines. The survey, conducted by the Social Weather Stations between August 24 to 27, showed that of 1,200 minors aged 13 to 17 years old, 8 percent are current smokers, 4 percent are previous smokers, while 88 percent are non-smokers. The results of the survey were released Thursday at a weekly forum at the Senate as senators continued to debate on the controversial sin tax bill, which aims to raise taxes for alcohol and tobacco products. The survey said Filipino minors who are current smokers usually smoke five cigarettes a day. It also showed that most of the current smokers would stop smoking if each cigarette costs P10.

Cigarettes Tax Increase and Smoke Shops, Cook County Board

Ali Al Meshal realizes he is in a unique position as Cook County Board members weigh a budget that includes a cigarette tax that will boost the price of a pack of smokes up by a dollar. Specifically, his position is manager of Border Tobacco, located on the south side of 183rd Street in Tinley Park — just over the line between Cook and Will County.

Smoke-Free Campus Modified by Students

For over a year now there have been a series of ongoing discussions concerning UR’s smoking policy. Within the past semester, however, junior Sheridan Finnie and seniors Sara Rothenberg and Catie Tarentine, who are leading the initiative, have begun to push for one which would outline a plan for a smoke-free campus save for a number of designated areas in which smoking would be allowed. Under the guidance of Director of the University Health Service Ralph Manchester and Associate Director of Health Promotion Linda Dudman, Finnie, Rothenberg and Tarentine initially aimed to implement a policy that would designate UR as entirely smoke free with no designated smoking areas, but after receiving feedback from students, faculty and staff, decided this new direction would make for a policy that would accommodate a larger majority of the University community.

Smuggled Tobacco Sales Decreased, the North East News

Less illegal tobacco is being sold in the North East, health campaigners have revealed. A survey carried out in 2009 and then again in 2011 showed that more than £36 million has been saved across the region in duty and tax as sales of illegal tobacco have fallen. The same survey showed that sales of the illegal goods had fallen by 39 per cent during the two year period.