Skip to main content
Umatilla BootstrapUmatilla Bootstrap
Tobacco Prevention and Education Program (TPEP)  Strives to prevent and reduce tobacco use by providing education and by keeping tobacco/nicotine out of underage hands. A high percentage, (90%) of people who regularly use tobacco industry products started with underage “experimentation.” The program aims to reduce the influence of the retail environment, industry marketing, and misinformation.
TPEP also promotes smoke-free community environments through education and enforcement of the Indoor Clean Air Act (ICAA). The Surgeon General reports there is NO SAFE LEVEL of secondhand smoke. TPEP advocates for smoke-free environments to reduce risk of harm from secondhand smoke, denormalize use and to reduce triggers for those who want to quit.  Tobacco users are encouraged to quit through education while cessation support resources such as the Oregon Quit Line are provided.  Nicotine can harm brain development & worsen feelings of anxiety and depression in teens and young adults.
For updated information regarding Teen Vaping Health Threats please review the CRAM data on Umatilla County's Early Initiation to Tobacco Products Community Readiness Assessment

 

Purposefully designed to appeal to children: They design their products to mimic toys, USB devices and other items commonly found in a child’s backpack. This makes them attractive to kids, and camouflages them from adults...  HIDING in plain sight. 

Tobacco Education & Resources:

Why Advocacy?
“This isn’t the first time Philip Morris has stated a commitment to funding research with the goal of reducing the death and disease caused by cigarettes, but every prior announcement was nothing more than a smokescreen to enable it to continue business as usual…Cigarette smoking kills more than 7 million people worldwide each year and is projected to kill 1 billion people this century. To end this terrible epidemic, we need strong action by governments to reduce tobacco use, not empty promises from tobacco companies.” Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, September 13, 2017  
Industry Quotes:
  • Thus, the ability to attract new smokers and develop them into a young adult franchise is key to brand development. [PM Doc. #2044895379/484, 1992]
  •  [If Philip Morris took] a more progressive position on tobacco, it would enable the company to move onto a higher moral playing field, to neutralize the tobacco issue and to focus attention on other, more appealing products. [PM Doc. #2023586677, December 3, 1992] 
  • If we don’t do something fast to project the sense of industry responsibility regarding the youth access issue, we are going to be looking at severe marketing restrictions in a very short time. Those restrictions will pave the way for equally severe legislation or regulation on where adults are allowed to smoke. [Philip Morris Senior Vice President Ellen Merlo, 1995]
Industry interference in legislation and policy making:  The tobacco industry interferes in legislation and policy making by creating philanthropic organizations: Foundation for a Smokefree World. Philip Morris uses this foundation to promote a favorable appearance, and under the guise of a do-gooder personna, to gain a seat beside legislators doing policy work.  
Resources on Methods of Interference: 
Tobacco industry-funded group obscures its ties to infiltrate scientific journals
Sources: https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/content/what_we_do/industry_watch/doubletalk/philipmorris.pdf 
Resources: Tobacco Industry Marketing | Truth Initiative   
Stop Tobacco: A global tobacco industry watchdog.  Stopping Tobacco 

Industry describes and exaggerates these products as “safe or safer” but they are not FDA approved as such. In fact most “Studies” and articles about vapes being safer were written by front groups, sponsored by industry and used to try and better the industry’s public image. One such group is  ACSH American Council on Science and Health  is a front group producing industry led independent “studies” that would never make it into a reputable science publication. Check out their contributors before you decide if you trust them to influence decisions about your health and safety: Pepper/Snapple, Bayer Cropscience, Procter and Gamble, Syngenta, 3M, McDonald's, and tobacco conglomerate Altria (Parent company of Philip Morris USA). ACSH also pursued financial support from Pepsi, Monsanto, British American Tobacco, DowAgro, ExxonMobil. Through entities like  ACSH, companies can pay scientists to say (or not say) what they want, with no peer reviews.  It’s up to us to Denormalize Smoke, Tobacco, Nicotine, & Vape products through education, policy change, prevention, & cessation support. We have let the tobacco industry have too much influence, for too long. 

Resources: 

https://exposetobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/Modern-Addiction-Mythbuster.pdf
https://exposetobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/FDA_IQOS_Spin_Factsheet.pdf
https://exposetobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/STOP-Pharma-Brief.pdf

Tobacco use is expensive for everyone, not just people who use it. Check out data Specific to Umatilla County:  https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.state.or.us/DHSForms/Served/le2593Umatilla.pdf 

Tobacco Regulations: 90% of people who currently smoke say they started underage. When policies are enacted, the goal is to reduce harm and the hold commercial tobacco has on society.  Voters and lawmakers have failed many people who are hooked on tobacco and nicotine. They failed when today’s regular users were kids. They failed by not passing and enforcing regulations that would protect youth. We should not fail to protect future generations.
FACTOID: Nearly 9 out of 10 smokers started smoking by age 18, and 99% started by age 26. Progression from occasional to daily smoking almost always occurs by age 26.
Tobacco regulations exist to reduce harm by:
  • Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke.
  • Reducing the over-availability of tobacco, nicotine, and vape products. 
  • Putting a stop to predatory marketing practices which primarily target youth, and people who are trying to quit.
  • Keeping products away from those under 21, when brain development is immature and they are unequitably susceptible to addiction.
ICAA-Indoor Clean Air Act  The Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act (ICAA), also known as the Smokefree Workplace Law, is designed to protect nearly all Oregonians from secondhand smoke.
The law prohibits smoking and vaping indoors as well as within 10 feet of all entrances/exits, windows and air intake vents.  Vaping includes e-cigarettes, vape pens, e-hookah and other devices used to deliver nicotine, cannabinoids and other substances in the form of a vapor or aerosol. 
If your business needs new decals that include the 2016 vaping restriction, you may contact us or print your own signs.
To File a Complaint:  If you observe possible violation of the law, you can report it to the Oregon Public Health Division for investigation and further action.  Clean Indoor Air Act Complaints:  Report online or call 1-866-621-6107.  
Report unlicensed and illegal underage sales to:
Tobacco.Inspections@state.or.us or call: 1-971-673-0984 

Nine out of ten adults with substance use disorders began when they were under 21. The tobacco industry preys on kids because the only way to ensure the survival of their empire is to attract new users. Their history shows one deception after another, no matter how much they deny the truth. Predatory marketing, product design based on flavor and brain research leads to making products more enticing to kids. The industry knows kids only need a taste because the brain continues to develop even into mid the twenties. Nicotine is far more addictive to a brain that is still developing.  
https://drugfree.org/substance-use-risk-assessment/
https://drugfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Parents-for-Tweens-Playbook-062821.pdf
https://drugfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Playbook-for-Parents-of-Teens-062821.pdf
https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/pep19-12.pdf

 

  1. Prevention  Prevention & Early Action - Partnership to End Addiction
  2. Video, Parent Guide and Hope by Text Support http://support.drugfree.org/site/R?i=WezADhATGJbKOFmicBl9aIcbHqJQ5N-7PDvWLFjkhzRxozNkIEqoiA
  3. Nicotine and brain development: These Videos are based on information from industry scientist turned whistleblower, Victor J. DeNoble, PHD.
   4. Youth Vaping Prevention & Resources to Quit | Truth Initiative  Free Digital Course for youth, self led interactive curriculum.. Course links to “This is Quitting” Youth quit program via texting. 
  5. Tobacco Quit Line
  6. Surgeon General: Know the Risks E-Cigarettes & Young People
  7. Truth Initiative: E-cigarettes: Facts, Stats & Regulations

  8. Discussion Cards:      (Click on Image for Complete Download)

You are not alone, the majority of people who use tobacco regularly wish they could quit. Low cost or free help is available. Quitting is easier with support and nicotine replacement therapy. You can talk to your provider in person, or use on of the following: