Tobacco Prevention and Control

RFPs Now Open: Youth E-cigarette Prevention and Cessation Initiative

The 2021 Minnesota Legislature appropriated funds for the Minnesota Department of Health to administer a new initiative to address youth e-cigarette and other commercial tobacco product use and cessation. The initiative includes community grants, statewide technical assistance and training, coordinated counter-marketing campaign, and surveillance and evaluation. The overall goal of this initiative is to reduce youth e-cigarette and commercial tobacco use in Minnesota by 25 percent by 2026.

Tobacco-Free Alliance Mobilizes Change Agents in St. Paul Area

Young people find their voice protecting their communities from the harms of commercial tobacco.

The tobacco industry has long targeted young people with marketing designed to get them hooked on nicotine early. Consequently, when youth learn they are targets for tobacco marketing, they provide an urgent, compelling, and authentic voice to advocate for commercial tobacco prevention and control.

That’s why Tobacco-Free Alliance Minnesota is educating and mobilizing young people—many from underserved communities—to make big changes to tobacco policy in their communities, including combating flavored tobacco.

New survey shows youth vaping remains a serious challenge in Minnesota

Data indicate many young people who use e-cigarettes show signs of dependence

Minnesota kids are still vaping at very high rates, with one in five high school students using e-cigarettes and 70% of high school and middle school users reporting signs of nicotine dependence, according to new data from the 2020 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey.

The Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey (MYTS) has been conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health since 2000 to provide information about the commercial tobacco use of young people and to design and evaluate prevention efforts.

Read more: New survey shows youth vaping remains a serious challenge in Minnesota

For more data, visit Tobacco NUMBRS.

Community at the Heart of Commercial Tobacco Prevention

When community members in North Minneapolis who used tobacco were asked what makes it harder to quit, many pointed to a lack of support from friends and family when they tried to stop. Others said that, given all the stress and hardship in their lives, cigarette smoking was a way to take time for themselves—the only time they could relax. They shared the complex influences and reasons why they did or did not smoke, voicing what the researchers at Pillsbury United Communities (PUC) had suspected: commercial tobacco use was about more than just tobacco.  

That’s why PUC’s approach to stopping commercial tobacco use is holistic, considering the whole person, and integrated into their agency’s existing programs that provide support and services for health and wellness. “People need housing, food security, and job placement as well as health,” noted Jonale Ward. “And supporting them in being healthy may need to begin with managing blood pressure, stabilizing their diabetes, or connecting them to mental health services. These conditions are stressors—both physical and mental—that make it easier to fall into unhealthy behaviors. We don’t just look at the problem they may have with tobacco.”

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