Tobacco News and Interesting Information

Cigarette sales took another hit in Oregon last year.

A report released on Monday by the Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program showed that cigarette sales have dropped to their lowest level ever, falling from nearly 55 to almost 50 packs per capita in the fiscal year ending June 2008.

"Over this last year, we've seen a decrease in consumption, so that's exciting," said Cathryn Cushing, spokeswoman for the state Public Health Division. "We've seen an increase in the number of folks who've quit smoking, and that's exciting, too, but there's still a lot of work to do."

The report is encouraging on the home front, with 89 percent of households banning smoking, a 2 percent increase last year.

That slight uptick is important now that Oregon has banned smoking in most workplaces, including bars and restaurants, said Dr. Mel Kohn, director of public health in Oregon.

"Now that we have a Smokefree Workplace Law, the main place that people get exposed to secondhand smoke is at home," he said. "I am encouraged by the fact that people realize that this is a hazard and are trying to avoid getting exposed and exposing their children."

Oregon has tracked a dramatic drop in smoking among young people since 1996, but still every day 48 children in Oregon pick up their first cigarette, Kohn said.

"We know that there are various ways that the industry targets kids for promoting cigarette use because kids who start smoking have a much more difficult time stopping," he said.

He said the decline in smoking among adults -- which has dropped to 17 percent -- should help further reduce youth smoking.

"Kids model the behavior that they see around them," he said. "With them having less exposure to smoke in the environment -- that's all going to make it less attractive for kids to be smoking, but this is a constant kind of battle that has to be waged."

The faltering economy has probably helped curb smoking, Kohn said. The federal cigarette tax also went up earlier this year.

The state has battled smoking through a prevention program that went into effect in 1996. Funding was sliced in half in fiscal year 2003. Sales of cigarettes continued to dip but then saw an increase from 2005 to 2007, when funding was restored.

Though many smokers have quit, the death rate has remained stubbornly flat, accounting for about 22 percent of the 30,000 Oregonians who die every year.

"The change in death rates does not go down as quickly as the change in smoking rates," Cushing said. "A lot of the damage was done years ago. We're going to see that percentage coming down over time."

While smoking has dropped overall in Oregon, it went up on the north coast and in the south of the state.

"Tobacco use is very closely correlated with income and education level," Cushing said. "Folks who have less money tend to smoke more. If they're stressed and having trouble it's hard to quit, but we know 80 percent of them would like to quit."

The more who quit, the more Oregon will be like its neighbors. Although it has a lower rate than the national average of 19.8 percent, both California and Washington have fewer smokers in percentage terms, and only 11.7 percent in Utah smoke.

"I wish it was dropping faster than it is," Kohn said. "It tells us that there's more work left to do."