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.