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TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Program Goals & Components
• Program Results
• Cigarette Consumption
• Adult Tobacco Use
• Youth Tobacco Use
• Secondhand Smoke
• Investing in the Future
• Data Sources
| Tobacco use still costs Oregonians $1.8 billion annually in health-related expenses and lost productivity. |
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2001-2003 Program Report
Make Oregon Healthier: Saving Lives and Saving Dollars
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In November 1996, Oregon's electorate decisively passed Measure 44, which raised taxes on tobacco and dedicated 10% of the new revenue to tobacco prevention and education.
Oregon's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program was launched in 1997 with a clear and simple mandate: to reduce tobacco-related illness and death. During the past six years, the Program has addressed Oregonian's concerns about the destructive effects of tobacco use with dramatic results.
Compared with 1996, today in Oregon, there are:
- 75,000 fewer adult smokers
- 25,000 fewer youth smokers
- 2,200 fewer pregnant smokers
- 1.5 billion fewer cigarettes sold annually
- 60,000 fewer adults using smokeless tobacco
Despite these gains, there is still much to be done. Each year in Oregon more than 6,000 people die from tobacco-related disease, and tobacco annually claims more lives than AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, motor vehicle crashes, murders and fires combined. In 2002, 500,000 Oregon adults still smoked, and 60,000 adults chewed tobacco. For most smokers, addiction to tobacco began in their youth. Despite gains in preventing youth from starting to smoke, 50,000 Oregon youth still smoke and 17,000 chew tobacco.
In addition to the cost of tobacco use to Oregonians in health and lives, tobacco also imposes a significant financial burden, of particular concern in a time of serious economic difficulties in the state. Tobacco use cost Oregonians $1.8 billion in 2000.
With such serious issues in the balance, the continued success of Oregon's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program is vital to the health of Oregonians and to the health of Oregon's economy.
If you would like additional copies of this report, or if you need this material in an alternate format, please call the Tobacco Prevention and Education Program at 971 673-1020 or (TTY) 971 673-0372.
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