Caledonia Argus

Tobacco use down among Houston County teens

Posted: 3/12/02

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

A significant number of children in Houston County smoke tobacco, but thanks to efforts in tobacco prevention, those numbers are dropping.

Most people have heard of the group Target Market. This is one of three programs financed by the Minnesota Tobacco Endowment Fund that as been implemented in the county to reduce and prevent teen tobacco use.

When Minnesota reached a $6.1 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998, the Ventura Administration and legislature worked together to establish an endowment fund to be used to prevent youth tobacco use and other health risk behaviors.

The state has a goal to reduce youth tobacco use 30% by 2005.

Despite a small percentage of the settlement(nine percent) being used for prevention, recent survey results show that the methods are working.

The Minnesota Student Survey of 12th graders showed that the percentage of youth who had any cigarette use in the past 30 days was climbing and was at a peak in 1998 at 41.4%. But three years after prevention programs were implemented, that number decreased to 34.7%.

The Minnesota Student Survey of Houston County in 1998 showed that tobacco use among 12th graders was much higher than the state average.

For the number of 12th grade boys and girls in Houston County who had any cigarette use in the last 30 days, 58% of girls use cigarettes, while 56% of boys used. What was interesting, though, was although a greater percentage of girls smoked, more boys were heavy smokers (a half a pack or more per day), while more girls tended to be light smokers (five cigarettes or fewer per day).

In 1998, 33% of 12th grade boys were heavy smokers, compared to 19% of 12th grade girls being heavy smokers. Twenty-two percent of boys were light smokers, while 38% of girls were light smokers.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 5,618 adults die every year due to tobacco related diseases. The annual economic burden costs the state $2.6 billion. The current number of young people projected to die (if the 2000 smoking rate remains constant) because of tobacco related disease is 112,085.

Getting the funds

In order to access funds for tobacco prevention, agencies had to apply for the grants.

Houston County joined 10 other counties to form the Southeast Tobacco Coalition. It applied for grants together with Goodhue County being the lead agency. Other counties involved are Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Mower, Rice, Steele, Wabasha and Winona.

Houston Countyís portion of the grant was $18,600 every year for two years beginning in July 2000 and ending June 30, 2002.

Heather Myhre, Houston Countyís Public Health Educator, said theirs was the only regional approach that had been tried. This allows those counties to not have to reinvent the wheel for coming up with ideas that work. ìYou learn what others have done, and donít make their mistakes or have the same success,î she explained.

After researching the different approaches to implementing tobacco prevention, Houston County teachers opted for evidence based tobacco education curriculum called ìProject Alertî.

The county coordinated with schools to also implement a program called ìDads make a differenceî, which uses students to teach younger students the effects of having a teenage pregnancy and the importance of a father or father figure in the lives of children.

Minnesota also blanketed the state with television and radio ads showing kids that the tobacco industry is targeting kids. There are students in Houston County who actively participate in the Target Market campaign.

Shortly after the campaign against youth tobacco began, the Minnesota Student surveys showed a decline in youth tobacco use. In 1998, 41.1% smoked cigarettes, In 2000, the number dropped to 38.7% and finally 34.7% in 2001.

Houston County also saw drops in its statistics too. Twelfth grade males smoking in the last 30 days went from 56% in 1998 to 33% in 2001. For twelfth grade females the drop wasnít as big: 58% to 50%.

For ninth grade males the percentage dropped from 33% to 16%, and for females from 43% to 28%. For sixth grade males, there was an increase from zero in 1998 to 10% in 2001. Sixth grade females dropped from 9% in 1998 to 6% in 2001.

The County and cities in the county also have been conducting tobacco compliance checks on businesses since 1997 to insure that businesses donít sell to minors.

Statistics in Houston County show that for both 1998 and 2001, between 59 and 73% of 12th grade girls and boys bought their cigarettes from a gas station or convenience store. Those number greatly decreased for 9th and 6th grade students, who said the most common way to obtain cigarettes was from friends, family members or by asking someone else to buy it for them.

Conducting compliance checks is one way to try to reduce the number of children buying cigarettes. They are conducted by having a child between the ages of 16 and 17 to try to buy cigarettes from the establishment.

Businesses can have their tobacco licenses suspended for up to seven days and be fined $250 if they fail three compliance checks in a 24 hour period.

The checks are administered every six months the Houston County Sheriffís Office and individual city police departments.

In December 2001, Houston County commissioners decided to start businesses on clean slate because of the turnover for those who administered the checks.

To date, no business has failed three compliance checks in a 24 month period. However, there have been some who have failed three to four checks throughout the checks begining in 1997.

Next articles to highlight prevention programs in county

This article is the first of four articles on teen tobacco prevention programs that are being successfully implemented in the county.

The next three articles will highlight the programs used in the county and also how the county and the state plans to continue implementing teen tobacco prevention programs.

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