Northwest Georgia Public Health

Tobacco

Policy Guidelines

Guidelines for 100% Tobacco Free Schools - A Model 100% Tobacco-Free School Policy For School Districts In Georgia

Tobacco Use Statistics

How many youth in Northwest Georgia use tobacco?

How many people in Northwest Georgia use tobacco?

What are the effects of second hand smoke and Asthma?

Tobacco Use Consequences

Since the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health in 1964, medical experts have written 27 more reports for the Surgeon General on tobacco use. In this report, leading scientists have found that using tobacco causes people to become sick, disabled, or to die. Read the full report

100% Tobacco Free Schools Backgrounder

Georgia is one of 13 states without a state level tobacco free school policy. (1)

Schools are in a uniquely powerful position to play a major role in reducing the serious problem of smoking and other tobacco use by kids. A majority of all smokers begin before leaving high school. (2)

Georgia Public Health is asking schools to adopt a 100% Tobacco Free School Policy designed according to the CDC’s model policy. Why? To create an environment that encourages tobacco free lifestyle.

This will be protecting children from a product that is habit forming/addictive, modeling respect for state laws designed to limit access to tobacco by children, and providing positive role models.

Tobacco is a Serious Health Hazard

Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of premature death and disease in Georgia and in the nation (3).

Currently, 23% of adult Georgians smoke cigarettes (in NWGA the number is 29%!!) (4)
9% of middle school students and 19% of high school students smoke cigarettes.
In addition, 5% of middle school students and 7% of high school students use smokeless tobacco (5).

Smokeless tobacco is a significant health risk and is not a safe substitute for smoking cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco itself contains 28 cancer-causing agents and teens who use it are more likely to become cigarette smokers. (6)

Tobacco Free Schools In Georgia

In 2005, the Georgia Division of Public Health conducted an assessment of tobacco use school policies in all 182 public schools in Georgia. No schools were found to have a tobacco free policy in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) model policies. Since then, individual school districts in Georgia have begun to adopt model 100% Tobacco Free school policies and to proactively enforce the policy. Those school districts are the following: Click Here

All school districts are eligible to receive signage, training in Alternative To Suspension, Not On Tobacco school-based youth prevention and cessation interventions, and Asthma Case Management planning for schools conducted by the American Lung Association. In addition, earned media campaigns are to be developed to educate the public about the new policy in preparation for the current and upcoming school year. Continue to promote and disseminate Quit Line and Ga. Smokefree Air materials throughout these schools districts. Youth and adults will be motivated to quit due to your efforts. See the attached updated map and spreadsheet of all of the leaders in the state of Georgia. Also, you will find our new data on youth tobacco use in Georgia.

Our new baseline is 61 out of 181 and counting! Approximately 949,320 youth are protected by a policy that eliminates exposure to the dangers of secondhand smoke, WE ARE CLOSE TO PROVIDING A TOBACCO FREE HEALTHY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR ONE MILLION GEORGIA YOUTH !!! WHO IS GOING TO PUSH US OVER THE TOP !?!?! Eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke in sixty-one school districts is a major milestone. Thank you all for your support in reducing teen tobacco use in Georgia!

Georgia TUPP TEAM

What is a 100% Tobacco Free School Policy?

The CDC model policy definition is: “A ‘tobacco-free environment’ exists if the state, district, or school has a policy prohibiting cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking, and smokeless tobacco use by students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The policy prohibits tobacco use in school buildings, on school grounds, in school buses or other vehicles used to transport students and at off-campus school-sponsored events 24 hours per day 7 days per week.” (7)

How can the school system help?

Adopt a 100% Tobacco Free School Policy designed according to the CDC’s model policy. Create an environment that encourages anti-smoking beliefs and behaviors. This includes:

Forbidding tobacco use by students, staff and visitors on all school grounds, school vehicles and vehicles to transport students, and at all school sponsored events.
Helping tobacco-using staff and students quit

The following components are important for the success of a tobacco free school policy:

Signage will alert and remind students, staff and visitors of the policy
Development of a school based media campaign will further educate students, staff and visitors of the virtues of a tobacco free learning environment
Development of a cessation plan for students and staff

Sources

(1) National Association of State Boards of Education. (2005). State by state tobacco use policies, 2004.

(2) Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (no date). How schools can help students stay tobacco-free, Extracted June 2007 from www.tobaccofreekids.org

(3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2004). Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. Georgia 2004 tobacco surveillance report – tobacco use among middle and high school students – United States, 2002.

(4) GA DHR, Division of Public Health, Epidemiology Branch. (2005). 2005 Georgia Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Report.

(5) GA DHR, Division of Public Health, Epidemiology Branch. (2005). 2005 Georgia Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Report, 2005 Georgia Youth Tobacco Survey.

(6) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (April 2007). Smoking & tobacco use fact sheet: Smokeless tobacco, Extracted 12/26/07 from www.cdc.gov

(7) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (February 25, 2004). Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. Guidelines for school health programs to prevent tobacco use and addiction, February 25, 1994/ 43 (RR-2); 1-18.