Florida Cuts Teen Smoking Big Time
Christine Kilgore, Contributing Writer
[Clinical Psychiatry News 25(5):1, 2000. © 2000 International Medical News Group.]
An unprecedented decline in tobacco use among Florida teenagers is being attributed to an aggressive antismoking message that teens themselves devised: You are being manipulated by tobacco companies.
The message has produced a 54% decline in middle school cigarette use and a 24% drop among high school students over the past 2 years.
"It's just spectacular," says Dr. Larry Deeb, a pediatrician in Tallahassee, whose 16-year-old daughter has been a teen volunteer with the campaign. The don't-be-manipulated message "makes them think," he said.
Like programs in at least several other states, Florida's campaign--dubbed "the truth"--has been multifaceted, involving a countermarketing campaign, in-school and after-school programs, active local partnerships, enforcement campaigns, and evaluation and research.
What sets Florida's antismoking program apart is the state's extensive involvement of youth at both the state and local levels and the campaign's main message of manipulation, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"They're playing on the desire to rebel. They're saying, 'These people have targeted you for years and you should reject that,'" said Danny McGoldrick, research director of the Washington-based organization. "It's been tried in other campaigns but not to this extent."
Frank Panela, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, said the message emanated from Florida teens themselves. "This is what they said would work. Teens don't want to be told what to do by anybody."
One of the television ads features two executives visiting a man in the hospital. They thank the man, who is coughing and struggling for breath, for being such a loyal customer and tell him, "We don't know how we'll replace you." They then walk out into the hall and eye a teenager walking by. The teen looks up at their glare and asks, "What?"
Florida launched its program as a pilot project with funding from its landmark 1997 settlement of a lawsuit filed against tobacco companies to recover costs of treating ill smokers.
A recent survey done by the state health department of more than 23,000 students showed that, in just under 2 years, the number of middle school smokers declined by 54% (from 18.5% to 8.6% of the sample) and the number of high school smokers dropped by 24% (from 27.4% to 20.9%).
Smokers were defined as those individuals who reported using tobacco at least 1 day in the past month, Mr. Panella said..
Use of cigars and smokeless tobacco dropped by similar amounts. The reported declines in the use of all types of tobacco were consistent across grade, gender, and ethnicity.
The results are being hailed by public health advocates at a time when rates of teen smoking remain dramatically higher than they were 10 years ago and when other states are deciding whether to fund antitobacco programs with their share of money from a national settlement reached between the 50 states and tobacco companies in 1998.
So far, fewer than a dozen states have made the decision to dedicate funding for comprehensive antitobacco programs, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
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