Bismarck, ND – So far this year the state Health Department's Community Health Grant Program has given more than 924-thousand-dollars to local health departments and over 918-thousand-dollars to individual communities for local tobacco prevention and control.
Kathleen Mangskau is director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control at the Health Department
This money will actually be used in communities throughout North Dakota for a number of goal areas. The first one is to really prevent initiation among youth. Secondly, it's to prevent quitting among youth and adults. Thirdly, it's to really reduce exposure to second-hand smoke And then also to identify and eliminate disparities in tobacco use among specific populations.
The tobacco prevention grants come from a national tobacco lawsuit settlement. Mangskau says the efforts in local communities have made a significant difference in youth tobacco use rates. She says rates went from 41-percent in 1999 to 30-percent today and the adult tobacco use rate has gone from 23-percent to 19-point-nine-percent.