Maine vs. Big Tobacco

The Health and Community Services Department at the city of Bangor houses the Healthy Maine Partnership for 12 towns serving the Greater Bangor region. This program is funded through the Fund for a Healthy Maine. We would like to applaud the state for its prevention efforts, ranking first in the nation in its use of tobacco settlement money as reported last week by Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids.

Thanks to the Legislature’s establishment of the fund, developed to receive and disburse tobacco settlement money nearly 10 years ago, several programs throughout the state are able to help people quit, eliminate secondhand smoke exposure and keep kids from starting.

While Maine spends $16.9 million on tobacco prevention, the tobacco industry spends nearly four times that marketing its products to our citizens. While we may meet the minimum standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back in 1999, we are working with small change in comparison to our competition in the war against tobacco.

Maine has had success in decreasing tobacco use in high school and middle school students, challenges still exist. There are several populations, including young adults and people with mental illness, who still have a high prevalence of smoking. In addition, persons with low socioeconomic standing or who lack health insurance are also at a higher risk of tobacco use.

We at the city of Bangor’s Health and Community Services are intrigued by a recent study in the American Journal of Public Health looking at the association of smoking cessation with financial stress and material well-being. This study’s findings provide grounds for encouraging the social service sector to incorporate smoking cessation efforts into their programs to enhance their clients’ material or financial conditions and further encourage providers to utilize such financial incentives in antismoking campaigns.

Maine must continue to fund tobacco prevention programs so we can eliminate discrepancies and ensure that future generations are protected from the influence of the tobacco industry. While our success should not go unnoticed, neither should the ongoing public health need.

Shawn Yardley, director

City of Bangor Health

and Community Services Department