Mission Statement

The mission of re:TH!NK, the Lakeshore Tobacco Prevention Network, is to improve the health of our residents by reducing tobacco use and exposure through prevention strategies which include community outreach and involvement to move policy forward collaboratively, across our multi-jurisdictional area.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New Facts and Figures

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin held a meeting in Washington DC on July 28th, the topic was "Cessation in High Risk Populations". Out of this meeting, came a few new facts that caught my attention. Here's just a few:

Smoking rates: w/college education 10%
if below the poverty level 30%

suffer from a mental illness 39%

dependent on alcohol 50%


Approximately half of the 443,000 annual tobacco-related deaths in the US are among people with mental illness and/or addictions; and they consume 44% of the cigarettes in the US


There are 46 million smokers in the US; 70% want to quit; 45% will try this year. In comparison, China has 350 million smokers...only 13% plan to quit.


The numbers continue to be staggering, but the fight remains the same.

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