Arkansas has the third highest percentage of adults who use smokeless tobacco, falling only behind Wyoming and West Virginia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System. Stamp Out Smoking is joining state and national tobacco control partners to celebrate Through With Chew Week February 14 – 20 in hopes of decreasing the number of Arkansans who use smokeless tobacco.
Through With Chew Week was established in 1989 by the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Inc. as an educational campaign to raise awareness of the dangerous health effects of smokeless tobacco use. During Through With Chew Week, one day is set aside as the Great American Spit Out to encourage tobacco users to quit for a day in hopes that they will quit for good. This year, the Great American Spit Out will take place on Thursday, February, 18.
“Education and awareness campaigns are important to ensure Arkansans make informed choices about their health,” said Dr. Carolyn Dresler, program director of the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. “Our hope is that tobacco users will put into action the information they learn during Through With Chew Week and give up their habit for good on the Great American Spit Out.” (more…)
Category: Press Release
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Jan. 25, 2010) – Stamp Out Smoking, the educational outreach media campaign for the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, announced today it will host the seventh annual tobacco-free drama contest. Titled “The Big Pitch,” the contest will give students across Arkansas the chance to write and star in their own television spot highlighting the dangers of tobacco. Through participation in the program, students statewide will have the opportunity to creatively develop a commercial with their peers, win money for their school, and participate in a professional production should their commercial be selected.
Last year’s winners, Julie Davis, Erica DeMarchi, Desteni Gamble, Stephanie Gomez and Ashlyn Rico from Arkansas High School, were awarded funds to purchase media equipment and supplies for their school.
In addition to winning a prize for their school, the students will also receive prizes. The winning school will receive a $2,000 in-store credit for media equipment or supplies, as well as a $50 iTunes gift card for each student on the winning team. The second-place winner will receive a $1,000 in-store credit for the school in media equipment or supplies and a $25 iTunes gift card for each team member. The third-place winner will receive a $500 in-store credit for media equipment or supplies and a $15 iTunes gift card for each team member. All qualifying entries will be posted on stampoutsmoking.com for the “People’s Choice” Award voting. This award returns for a third year, after nearly 4,000 votes were cast to select last year’s winner. The “People’s Choice” winner will receive a $25 iTunes gift card for each student on the team. (more…)
Category: Uncategorized
Tobacco Prevention Coordinator Hunter Caraway, in accordance with the city of Melbourne, saw an opportunity to extend the smoke-free message within Izard County. As of November 24, 2009, a ban was established on smoking within 20 feet of all city-owned playground equipment. Learn more about how Hunter’s initiative helped provide a healthier environment for children and families.
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Category: Uncategorized
This fiscal year, TPCP has partnered with Arkansas Department of Human Services’ Division of Behavioral Health Services’ Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention (OADAP), the Department of Community Corrections (DCC), and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), to provide intensive tobacco treatment training to close to 80 substance abuse counselors. (more…)
Category: Uncategorized
In a report released in early December, Arkansas ranks 9th in the nation for funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. Currently, Arkansas is only funded at half of what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends when orchestrating tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Arkansas’s commitment to remain one of the top 10 states will require more support from statewide leaders to increase funding that will reduce smoking to help save lives, save money, and, ultimately, reduce tobacco-related health care costs.
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Category: Uncategorized
Every year, countless Arkansans make New Year’s resolutions to become tobacco-free. Thanks to the Arkansas Tobacco Quitline, tobacco users throughout the state have access to free medication and cessation counseling to help them keep their 2010 resolutions to quit. Stamp Out Smoking encourages tobacco users to reach the Quitline by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-800-784-8669 this New Year’s.
Smoking has been shown to cause premature aging and puts users at risk for health problems including cancer, cardiovascular disease and adverse reproductive effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quitting smoking will positively affect a tobacco user’s health for years to come. The risk of coronary heart disease is cut by half only one year after quitting. In as little as five years, the risk of stroke is reduced to that of a person who never smoked, and lung cancer risks drop by up to half after 10 years of being tobacco- free. It is never too late to stop smoking and begin living a healthier life.
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Category: Press Release
Winners have been selected out of more than 1,600 entries received for the Stamp Out Smoking “Tobacco Tackle” essay contest – the highest participation in the four-year history. Entries were divided into three categories: grades 2-3, 4-6 and 7-9, with a first-, second- and third-place winner in each category.
The Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, hosts an annual essay contest encouraging Arkansas youth to write essays about the heroes in their lives who exemplify healthy and tobacco-free lifestyles.
In the category for grades 2-3, Ethan Tabor, a 2nd grader from Harrison, won first place, while Brooke Rainwater, a 3rd grader from Paris, and Lilly Rogers, a 2nd grader from Jonesboro, placed second and third. In the category for grades 4-6, Nicole Hill, a 4th grade student from Mena, took home the first-place prize. Hannah Braden, a 6th grade student from Viola, was awarded second place and Julie Thompson, a 6th grader from Leachville, came in third. In the category for grades 7-9, Samantha McCain, a 7th grade student from Wheatley, was awarded first place, while Garrett Paul Wickham, a 9th grader from Mountain View, and Haley Harvell, an 8th grader from Arkadelphia, placed second and third. (more…)
Category: Press Release
Stamp Out Smoking encourages Arkansas tobacco users to participate in the Great American Smokeout on November 19. The Great American Smokeout is a national cessation day held every year by the American Cancer Society. It is a day selected to raise awareness of the dangers of tobacco and to help tobacco users quit, for at least one day, with the hope that they will quit for good.
“Arkansas has so many great resources to help tobacco users quit,” said Dr. Carolyn Dresler, program director of the Arkansas Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. “The Great American Smokeout, coupled with the dangerous health effects and growing costs of tobacco, is just one more reason for Arkansans to take advantage of those resources like the Arkansas Tobacco Quitline.”
The Arkansas Tobacco Quitline, which can be reached by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW, provides free motivational counseling with a trained Quit Coach® and free nicotine-replacement therapy medications such as patches and lozenges. The Quitline is available seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., and services are available in English, Spanish, Marshallese and additional languages if needed. Counseling is tailored to the specific needs of the tobacco user. Women who are pregnant are eligible for a specialized cessation program with additional benefits. (more…)
Category: Press Release
Stamp Out Smoking, the media and public relations campaign for the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, announced today the 2009 “Tobacco Tackle” essay contest. This contest will give Arkansas students in grades 2-9 the opportunity to submit an essay about a “hero” in their lives who maintains a healthy and tobacco-free lifestyle. “Tobacco Tackle” is an online contest in which students may submit their entries through the SOS Web site, stampoutsmoking.com, by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 30. Essays should include examples of the ways in which their “hero” practices and encourages a healthy and tobacco-free lifestyle. All essays should be between 300 and 750 words. (more…)
Category: E-Newsletter Stories
Fifteen-year-old Parkview High School Student Josilyn Mitchell is a member of the Arkansas Youth Leadership Initiative Program (YLI). Josilyn was recently recognized as a finalist in the National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids 2009 Youth Advocates of the Year Awards. The award honors top youth across the country who have fought hard to promote tobacco prevention legislation in their home states, to reduce tobacco marketing to kids in their communities and to stop their peers from using tobacco. Josilyn was the only finalist named from the state of Arkansas and Southern region.
“I think being a teenager you have a bigger voice with youth rather than just adults,” said Josilyn. “I got involved because I wanted to make a change in the youth atmosphere. As a finalist for this award, it was an honor to collaborate with other youth advocates from across the nation.”
As a finalist, Josilyn traveled on an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for a Youth Advocacy Symposium. Student delegates visited with members of congress and thanked them for supporting the historic U. S. Federal Drug Administration passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. (more…)
Category: E-Newsletter Stories
