A program to educate kids about the harms of tobacco has led to a significant reduction in smoking and vaping among middle and high school students.
An intensive tobacco prevention program funded by smoking and vaping taxes has led to a significant decline in cigarette and e-cig use among middle and high school kids in California. This is documented by a study published in Journal of Adolescent Healthwhich shows what impact early, high-quality education can have on future health and lifestyle.
Research from the University of California at San Diego tells how important funding for the TUPE (Tobacco-Use Prevention Education) tobacco prevention program decided in 2016 by Californian voters led, in the schools selected to join, to a 20% reduction in the probability of using tobacco and a 23% reduction in vaping.
Funds recovered from tobacco taxes
In 2016, with a referendum called Proposition 56, California voters approved the proposal to increase taxes on cigarettes, e-cigs and other tobacco products. The initiative has, over time, generated money for prevention efforts, some of which has been invested in expanding the TUPE program, administered by the California Department of Education.
Media campaigns financed with this revenue reached all teenagers in the state, but the TUPE program targeted schools in some specific neighbourhoods, where students were involved in lectures, group activities and free and facilitated access to programs to stop smoking or vaping.
An excellent investment
From the survey conducted on approximately 160,000 middle and high school students in 358 California public schools, it emerged that the education and prevention activities provided were in fact associated with lower tobacco use compared to that recorded in schools not reached by the TUPE program. This, despite all students, in participating and non-participating schools, being reached by the same advertisements for or against tobacco, and with equal access to products containing it.
“Most long-term tobacco use begins in adolescence,” says Shu-Hong Zhu, Professor of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of California. “Preventing even a small percentage of young people from starting to smoke can translate into important public health benefits over time.”
