Report finds Oregon’s overall use dropped, lower than national average



In Oregon, the per capita cigarette consumption has fallen from 93.1 cigarettes in 1993 to 49.8 in 2008, according to a Tobacco Prevention and Education Program (TPEP) report released by Oregon Department of Human Services. That’s below the national average consumption of 55.1 cigarettes per person.

Still, tobacco accounts for 22 percent of deaths in Oregon. About 7,000 Oregonians die from tobacco related causes every year. By comparison, motor vehicles account for about 500 deaths a year. Annually, 200 people in Oregon die from illicit drug use, according to the TPEP report.

Even as tobacco use drops in Oregon, its use in Lincoln County remains above the state average of 19 percent of adults. In Lincoln County, 28 percent of the 10,096 adults smoke.

DHS estimates that 155 people in Lincoln County die and 3,029 suffer a serious illness from tobacco use each year. That adds up to $24 million being spent on tobacco related illnesses and $26 million in productivity loss.

Perhaps the most disturbing number to emerge from the report is that 22 percent of infants born in Lincoln County in 2007 (the most recent year figures are available) were to mothers who used tobacco during pregnancy. That’s a decline from 35 percent in 1993, but still double the national average, and 10 points above the state average.

Ann Way, Lincoln County Health and Human Service tobacco prevention education program coordinator, believes the higher than average use in the county is related to low-income levels.

“One thing we know is that we have a very high level of poverty,” Way said. “Unfortunately, when you have a high level of poverty you have more people who smoke.”

Way said tobacco use among teens is increasing in the county, which she attributes to peer pressure and the relative ease students can acquire cigarettes. In many cases, young people get cigarettes by stealing them from their parents or the “disturbingly high” number of parents who buy tobacco for their children, Way said. And despite penalties for doing so, some stores sell cigarettes and chewing tobacco to minors.

“Between peers, parents, stealing and buying, it’s no problem for them to get cigarettes,” Way said.

In the latest Oregon Healthy Teen Survey, 22 percent of Lincoln County 11th-graders admitted to smoking in the day prior to taking the survey.

Lincoln County receives $61,000 a year through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant funneled through the state DHS. By the CDC’s own accounting, Lincoln County needs an annual tobacco prevention investment of $196,000.

The county is required to use the grant money on education and cessation programs. Even then, it is not enough to fund a fulltime prevention coordinator. Way, who is also the county’s emergency coordinator, spends only half of her time on tobacco prevention.



By the numbers

A Tobacco Prevention and Education Program report released by Oregon Department of Health and Human Services recently put out the following findings.

10,096

Adults in Lincoln County that regularly smoke cigarettes

3,029

Estimated number of people in the county who suffer from a serious illness due to tobacco use.

155

Estimated number of people in the county who die from tobacco use every year.



Larry Coonrod can be reached at 265-8571 ext 211 or larry@newportnewstimes.com





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