Surgeon General's Report: District of Columbia Must Do More to Curb Youth Smoking

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has released a new report on tobacco use, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults, and its message is clear: the failure of states to adequately invest in tobacco control has resulted in three million new youth and young adult smokers, a third of whom will ultimately die from their addiction.

The report also asserts that we could cut youth tobacco use in half in just six years - but only if U.S. states put in place policies and programs proven to reduce tobacco use. Read more.

So what is the District of Columbia doing to curb tobacco use, particularly among young people? Sadly, not enough.

In January, the Lung Association released its annual State of Tobacco Control report which found that virtually every state is failing to fund tobacco control programs at levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The District is no exception. In fact, the City Council completely eliminated local tobacco control funding in the fiscal year 2012 budget which puts at risk some of the most vulnerable populations in the city, including youth, to the negative impacts of tobacco use. Check out the District's grades here.

Why is it so important to reduce tobacco use by young people? Because starting to use tobacco as a kid will lead to damage to their health that is permanent and severe. This 31st Surgeon General's report finds that the health of young adults can be affected much earlier than previously reported. When young people smoke, they cause early and permanent damage to their lungs - stunting the growth of their lungs and increasing their risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Tobacco use also causes heart disease and lung cancer, the leading cause of death among all types of cancer.

According to the report, more than 600,000 middle school and three million high school students smoke, nationwide. Here in the District, more than 3,000 high school students are current smokers. We could reduce this number and protect the health and future of more of our kids, if the District invested enough in comprehensive prevention and cessation programs.

"It's ironic that many states blame tight budgets to justify cutting back on tobacco prevention programs, when these same programs actually save states money," said Dennis Alexander, Regional Executive Director for the American Lung Association in the District of Columbia. Smoking-related health care expenditures costs the District more than $240 million annually. Additionally, the tobacco industry spends an estimated $13.5 million marketing their products in the District each year. Local investment in tobacco prevention will help to counteract a portion of this tobacco marketing as well as lessen the burden of smoking-related health expenditures.

You can help

Would you like to help cut youth tobacco use in the District? There are a number of ways you can get involved in our fight against tobacco use, including joining our Lung Action Network, or by making a donation to further our fight for healthy lungs.

Need help quitting?

The American Lung Association has been successfully helping smokers quit for more than 30 years with its Freedom From Smoking® program, which provides a personalized step-by-step quit plan and is available as a face-to-face program or online (www.ffsonline.org). The Lung Association offers the N-O-T (Not On Tobacco) program, designed to help teens quit smoking while addressing other related teen stressors. For assistance with quitting smoking or for additional questions about lung health, please call the American Lung Association's Lung HelpLine at 1-800-548-8252.