Cost of Smoking in California: NCADD-OC and The Coalition to Protect All Californians from Tobacco visit with state legislators in Sacramento

The Coalition to Protect All Californians from Tobacco (PACT Coalition) is a group of individuals from tobacco prevention organizations and public health agencies committed to reducing the impact of tobacco on Californians. The mission of the PACT Coalition is to educate local and state elected officials about the social, health and economic impact of tobacco and tobacco-related disease in California and to serve as a resource on local and statewide tobacco prevention issues.

The PACT Coalition recently visited Sacramento for their Capitol Information & Education (I&E) Days. This event has been an annual event at the California State Capitol for over a decade. It was started by the Joint Ethnic Networks, which educated legislators on the impact of tobacco on California’s diverse ethnic populations. In 2005 the event was broadened to include all Prop. 99 funded projects. Now, each year about 150 people from around the state come to the Capitol to educate their legislators about the burden of tobacco in their communities.

The theme for the 2015 Capitol I&E Days was the ‘Cost of Smoking in California.’ This theme was presented to local Senator Patricia Bates’ staff and Assembly Member William Brough’s staff on May 12th. PACT coalition members presented data such as:

· Tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable death and disease in California, with 40,000 adults die prematurely each year

· For every death, there are 20 additional people suffering from smoking-related disease

· The total cost of smoking in California annually, in direct healthcare costs, illness and premature death is $18.1 Billion

· The state tobacco tax, at $0.87 per cigarette pack ranks 33rd in the nation

Some of the encouraging messages left include:

· Since the start of the tobacco control program 25 years ago, more than one million lives have been save, with smoking prevalence down by 50 percent

· Over $130 billion has been saved in healthcare costs over a 20 year period

· For every $1 invested in the California Tobacco Control Program, the return on investment is $56

Local program information from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence- Orange County (NCADD-OC) was also given to both Senator Bates’ staff as well as Assembly Member Brough’s staff to update the offices on the current efforts within the legislators’ community. These efforts include a smoke-free dining project in Lake Forest working toward a city wide ordinance that designates outdoor dining, bar areas and mobile catering businesses as smoke-free. Work on smoke-free entry ways, in Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente are also being done. Businesses that adopt this policy would restrict outdoor smoking within 20 feet or more of all doorways, windows, vents, and openings. Additionally NCADD-OC is in the cities of Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente to work on creating smoke-free Multi-Unit Housing complexes. This policy would restrict smoking in 75 percent of individual units (including balconies and patios) and designates common indoor and outdoor areas.

Local successes in neighboring cities were discussed with the legislators, including Del Mar Fair becoming tobacco free and Encinitas’ recent implementation of smoke-free outdoor dining. The slow progress in other communities was also discussed with Brough’s staff. As well as some hypothetical reasoning for the limited progress on Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano, and San Clemente becoming smoke-free. Community support is needed to uphold the efforts of NCADD-OC in smoke-free outdoor dining, entryway and Multi-Unit Housing within our south Orange County cities.

For more information on the NCADD-OC projects, or for additional resources on secondhand smoke and the benefits of being smoke-free please contact Katie Cariello (949) 595-2288 x319 kcariello@ncaddoc.org or visit our website www.ncaddoc.org.