The California Tobacco Control Program's strategy and impact

¶ … Tobacco Control Program

The California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) is one of the oldest state tobacco control programs in the Nation. Established in 1990, CTCP was the first tobacco control program to include a change of social norms in its strategy. Largely a success due to impacts in and out of California, CTCP must continue to work against the tobacco industry's marketing tactics.

The California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) was established in 1990 and was the first tobacco control program to incorporate a change of social norms in its core strategy (California Department of Public Health, n.d.). The program's stated mission is "to improve the health of all Californians by reducing illness and premature death attributable to the use of tobacco products" (California Department of Public Health, 2010, modified 10/31/2012). The program's ambitious long-term goals are to empower statewide and local health agencies to promote health and quality of life by providing leadership and research in advocating social norms creating an environment that is tobacco free, stop illegal tobacco sales to youth, fight the tobacco industry's aggressive marketing, and assist people to permanently quit smoking (California Department of Public Health, n.d.). In order to achieve its long-term goals, the CTCP has formulated short-term goals/measurable objectives. These goals/objectives include: eliminating smoking on restaurant patios; eliminating smoking and tobacco waste from local and state recreation areas, trails, parks and beaches; taking steps to protect residents of multiple housing units from second-hand and third-hand smoke; reducing tobacco waste that could harm wildlife and landscapes; eliminating marketing by the tobacco industry at community events and youth-oriented events; eliminating smoking in licensed daycare, foster care and assisted living to ensure smoke-free environments for children and patients; countering marketing by the tobacco industry that targets nonwhites, low-income people and youth, which are deemed vulnerable populations (California Department of Public Health, n.d.).

CTCP has made significant impacts over several decades as a leader among state tobacco control programs in the United States (California Department of Public Health, n.d.). Largely due to the contributions of CTCP, researchers have found that social norms against tobacco are pronounced in California (Wakefield, Durkin, Spittal, Siahpush, & Scollo, 2008). According to its own statistics, the CTCP has already assisted in saving more than 1,000,000 lives and $86+ billion in California health care costs (California Department of Public Health, n.d.). It has achieved these results by high-impact innovations in tobacco control and activities. For example, the CTCP collaborates with the State Attorney General, which brought more than 14 successful actions against tobacco companies, resulting in $24+ million in payments, penalties and fees paid by the tobacco industry (Rogers, 2010). Almost $1.9 million of that money was, in turn, used for tobacco control in California.