|
Tobacco Control Program Newsletter
|
|
|
TCP Team at the Champions for Youth Summit
This month, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) hosted over 400 passionate health professionals and youth advocates at the annual Champions for Youth Summit in Reston, VA. Established by the General Assembly in 1999, the VFHY’s mission is to empower youth to make healthy choices to prevent childhood obesity and use of addictive substances including tobacco and nicotine. In Virginia, VFHY's efforts have greatly contributed to a significant reduction in youth cigarette and e-cigarette use. The state of Virginia continues to rank among the 10 lowest states in youth use of cigarette and e-cigarettes.
Artwork by Hamilton Glass, created at the Champions for Youth Summit to represent the summit.
For 25 years, VFHY has strategically used a portion of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement funds to support a comprehensive approach to reduce youth tobacco and nicotine use. This includes social media campaigns, school-based prevention programs, innovative community-based programs, cutting-edge research on tobacco and nicotine, and trainings of youth advocates to promote healthy behaviors and tobacco-free policies leading to 25 tobacco-free parks and recreation areas in Virginia.
|
|
Meet Our TCP Partner: Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University
Since the initial rise of electronic cigarette use in youth, the Virginia Health Science (VHS) at Old Dominion University (ODU), previously known as Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), saw the need for research and resources surrounding this topic.
This began with a prevention campaign developed with input from experts as well as surveys and interviews with youth. The website is available at RethinkVape.org. It includes information on vapes, as well as marketing tactics of big tobacco and resources for parents, educators, providers, and teens. They partnered with the Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH) and the TCP VDH to educate the community about this information during the height of e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI).
More recent work involves the development of Assessing Vaping Exposure Risk in Teens (AVERT): a tool to help youth-serving professionals connect youth to appropriate vaping prevention and cessation resources. They continue to work with schools and providers to ensure implementation of best practices. For more information, contact them at youthvape@evms.edu
|
|
|
Data Highlight
The CDC highlighted a decline in e-cigarette use by middle and high school students nationwide in their September 5th release of the Morbidity and Mortality Weely Report (MMWR), Notes from the Field: E-Cigarette and Nicotine Pouch Use Among Middle and High School Students – United States, 2024. The report states, current e-cigarette use among middle and high school students declined from 7.7% in 2023 to 5.9% in 2024. This is a significant change from previous years’ survey data which had shown consistent increases in e-cigarette use among youth across the United States.
As of 2023, 8.1% of Virginia high school students reported current e-cigarette use, which was lower than the national of 10.0%. This is a noteworthy decrease from 2021 Virginia Youth Survey (VYS) data that showed e-cigarette use was over 14% among high schoolers. As the VYS is only administered in odd years, the VDH TCP is hopeful the trend continues when e-cigarette use rates collected in 2025 are available. Additionally, VDH TCP is monitoring the impact of nicotine pouches and other smokeless tobacco products among youth as they grow in popularity.
|
|
Tobacco Control in the News
That's a Wrap! 2024 Tips From Former Smokers® Campaign ended on September 22! Thank you for all of your efforts to support, leverage, and extend the campaign to amplify its messages to help people who smoke to quit for good. Visit the Media Campaign Resource Center for CDC Tobacco Free social media image bundles and broadcast-quality Tips ads that you can tag and use for paid placement.
Truth Initiative released a Vaping Lingo Dictionary: A guide to popular terms and devices - a recent resource that provides a list of popular products, as well as terms and phrases that young people may use to describe e-cigarette use.
Won't You Be My Tobacco-free Neighbor? The National Behavioral Health Network just released this new guide that supports organizations and their neighbors in collaborating on tobacco-free initiatives by providing meaningful engagement strategies, effective messaging, and solutions for addressing common barriers.
October is Substance Use Prevention Month and SAMHSA has all the resources you need to join as a partner in prevention. You will find ways to get involved, shareable toolkit resources, and more at their Substance Use Prevention Month page.
|
|
|
Free help to quit tobacco.
Quit Coaches available for support.
- www.QuitNowVirginia.org
- 1-800-QUIT NOW (1-800-784-8669) or text READY to 34191
- A free 24/7 service for all Virginians, 13 and older for all types of tobacco/nicotine
|
|
Free Vaping Resources for Teens, Youth Adults, & their Support Circles.
- VapeFreeVA.org
- Find vaping prevention and cessation facts & tips
- Support Circle tips are for any adult concerned about vaping -- parents, guardians, educators, physicians, etc.
|
|
- Becoming a Tobacco Free Worksite,
- Referring your patients and clients proactively to Quit Now Virginia,
- Finding your local tobacco and nicotine coalition, or
- Scheduling a tobacco and nicotine related training for your staff or community.
|
|
|
|
