April 17, 2005
Florida needs to regain the anti-smoking habit
The state's most recent Florida Youth Tobacco Survey has bad news: "The prevalence of cigarette use among Florida public middle and high school students decreased faster between 1998-2001 than during 2001-2004."
The state's most recent Florida Youth Tobacco Survey has bad news: "The prevalence of cigarette use among Florida public middle and high school students decreased faster between 1998-2001 than during 2001-2004."
Which means Florida's anti-smoking effort is slipping. Not coincidentally, between 1998 and 2001, the Legislature spent $158 million on anti-tobacco programs. Between 2001 and 2004, that was slashed to a total of $68.3 million.
There's more bad news. "Compared to 2003, most indicators of cigarette use among students in 2004 remained at the same level." So progress didn't just slow down; it stopped. Again, the budgets are telling. In 2003, the anti-smoking budget was $37.5 million. In 2004 -- the year progress stopped -- Florida spent just $1 million.
The proposed budget is just $1 million again this year. The Senate proposes to spend the same next year. The House wants $2 million. Both are a pittance compared with the $370 million Florida will get this year from the 1997 tobacco settlement. Federal health officials say Florida should be spending a minimum of $78 million.
Comments by Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, indicate that legislative leaders don't yet understand the issue. "I think most people in Florida are informed on the risk of smoking," he said. "Besides, I'm not a big fan of the government being in the advice-and-guidance business."
In fact, most smokers start before they're adults. Many start in middle school. It's a mistake to assume that there's no need to inform successive generations of children about the risks of smoking. The state's smoking survey shows what happens when the effort is relaxed.
If keeping kids from becoming addicted to a deadly product isn't enough incentive, lawmakers should get into the "advice-and-guidance business" to save Florida money. Medicaid is a huge budget drain. The state sued tobacco companies precisely to recover some of the money it costs to provide Medicaid for ill smokers. One of the best ways to reduce future Medicaid costs is to reduce the number of future smokers.
Florida didn't just have an anti-smoking program. Florida had one of the nation's best. The state Department of Health says on its Web site that "many other states emulated the ... youth empowerment model for prevention." After years of decline, Florida needs to emulate its own pioneering program.
Posted by Opinion staff at April 17, 2005 4:28 PMFYI-
I work in tobacco enforcement... the trend that you speak of, a sharp decrease 1998-2001, and then a slower decrease 2001-2004 is nationwide, not just Florida. Also many states do not spend funding at the recommended CDC levels on Tobacco Control.
-Melissa
Posted by: Melissa at April 19, 2005 8:09 AMYou are wrong, Rep. Joe Negron. Most Florida youth are not well advised of smoking risks. In fact, I challenge him to locate any government warning of just how addictive smoking or chewing nicotine truly is.
Even tobacco control authorities seem afraid to tell youth the truth based upon an unfounded fears that it will somehow encourage them to use more intoxicating chemicals. But as seen with pain medications and LSD, intoxication is not the hallmark of chemical dependency.
Rep. Negron, how many times can a teen or tween smoke nicotine before their brain begins to desensitize itself to nicotine's presence, by physically reducing acetylcholine receptors in critical pathways such as dopamine, and growing millions of extra receptors in other regions (up-regulation)? Why is this question so important?
Rep. Negron, if you don't have any idea how to answer it then how can you possibly assert that Florida youth have risk awareness?
Which chemical addicts a higher percentage of regular users, Rep. Negron, alcohol, cocaine, LSD, heroin or nicotine? Nicotine's 90% adult dependency rate under DSM III mental health standards is almost 9 times higher than alcohol's and roughly 6 times higher than powdered cocaine's.
Since 2000, Canadian youth smoking rates have taken a wonderful nose dive. Since 2000 Canadian cigarette packs have carried an addiction warning which reads, "WARNING - CIGARETTES ARE HIGHLY ADDICTIVE - Studies have shown that tobacco can be harder to quit than heroin or cocaine."
I have this theory, Rep. Negron. I believe that youth are far smarter than we adults tend to credit them when they accurate information upon which to base their decisions.
I don't need to remind you that addiction to smoking nicotine is still Florida's #1 cause of death. Even though there is no U.S. addiction warning label, I challenge you, Rep. Negron, to make good on your public risk awareness assertion by ensuring that every Florida teen and tween has a solid awareness of just how captivating this most amazing chemical is.
John R. Polito
Nicotine Cessation Educator
Editor WhyQuit.com
1325 Pherigo Street
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
(843) 849-9721
john@whyquit.com
"Unjust and foolish statement made by Florida House Budget Chairman Joe Negron deserves flood of public backlash; Legislature's hidden agenda revealed to the public; advocates alike strike back and take back their fight"
Statement of Brandon Nelson, Osceola County Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) Board of Directors Representative
Kissimmee, FL: For nearly three years, the Florida Legislature have been attempting to get rid of the one program in the state that has been proven to successfully bring down youth tobacco usage rates, and now they're at it again. The words uttered by House Chairman, Joe Negron, R-Stuart makes it pretty clear of the Legislature's hidden agenda against ousting this once national program: Oust a program that brings youth empowerment and advocacy experience to our state's youth in their fight against the tobacco industry.
The successes of Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) and the Florida Tobacco Prevention and Control Program under the Department of Health have seven long years of glory in the fight to control youth smoking rates and ultimately to pry the deadly grip that Big Tobacco has on our state's youth. But it seems to me and many other people across the country that Florida's government officials are doing quite the opposite of the intentions of the Former Governor Lawton Chiles. Chiles won the landmark settlement against the tobacco industry nearly nine years ago to recoup the funds that the state was spending on rising healthcare cases due to smoking. Chiles envisioned that the state's youth would take a stand and fight the tobacco industry and tell them "we are not for sale". Now Chiles' dream is only but a nightmarish mockery of what the program was meant to be. The program suffered destruction soon after our current governor took office, and a slow, destructive decline in the effectiveness of the program began to show. When the legislature nearly two years ago reduced funding for the Nationally Acclaimed youth prevention program to just $1 million, the program suffered a devastating collapse. And now the bold statements of Joe Negron and other "anti" anti-tobacco control opponents are being made quite clear.
"Education and advocacy take a back seat to actually providing medical care for citizens," said House budget Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart. "I think most people in Florida are informed on the risk of smoking. Besides, I'm not a big fan of the government being in the advice-and-guidance business."
Not only is his statement a foolish and unjust one, it is also a malicious assumption to the fact that the only thing that truly matters to Floridians is actually providing health care. Education and Advocacy are what made this program stand out and become a model for the nation Mr. Negron! The message that Mr. Negron and the Legislature are sending is pretty clear "We don't care about protecting the state's children. Providing medical care is more important than protecting kids from the tobacco industry. Let Big Tobacco once again claim the souls of lost Floridian teens. Let's limit their effectiveness and kill this program slowly until it has no more energy left to fight for anything". Once again, the Florida Legislature continues to ignore the proof that advocacy and education truly work to reduce youth smoking levels. Governor Jeb Bush has said on more than one occasion that he is a supporter of this program and vows to restore proper funding to the program. However, the Governor's actions towards ensuring the safety of Florida's youth and the future of the Florida Tobacco Control Program shows a Governor who is not committed to tobacco prevention. Let me remind those who believe that tobacco prevention is not a priority for the state: If the state would invest the money given to it the way it was supposed to, funding a comprehensive tobacco control program with a youth advocacy component/marketing program, there would be no reason to provide tons of medical care in the future and ignore the ongoing pediatric epidemic.
Public officials are supposed to be representing the interests of the constituency that they represent while in office, not their own interests and the interests of the tobacco industry. For years it seems as though the Florida Legislature have planned and carried out their own hidden agenda to take the constituency and common citizen out of everyday governmental decisions. This is not the way that government officials are supposed to represent the people; we deserve better representation of our interests than having our government make assumptions and other decisions for us that are not in our interest nor favor.
A message to those in Tallahassee and to those who believe that the government is in the "advice and guidance business": The "business" of youth empowerment and advocacy against an industry that labels us as Replacement smokers for the more than 1,200 people who die everyday from their product is not ruled by the government. The Organization of Students Working Against Tobacco is an organization for youth and by youth, bringing about social changes in attitudes against tobacco industry tactics, no one is telling people "don't smoke". Our message is TRUTH, we are the messenger. Spreading the TRUTH about Big Tobacco's lies, educating our peers so they don't end up like generations before us; living the vicious cycle of dreaded tobacco addiction at the cost of their health and family. The only one who will win in that situation will be Big Tobacco. Oh wait, they're already winning this fight now, Big Tobacco owns Florida, or so it seems by the behavior of our public officials.
The moral of the story is Spend money on a cause that has been proven to work to reduce teen tobacco usage rates and you won't have to worry about treating the multiplying cases of healthcare across the state. Don't let Big Tobacco continue to manipulate and addict a next generation of "Replacement Smokers".
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