NOV 2005

Please remember that the N-O-T program is designed for teens attempting to stop using tobacco. I recently received two packages that had significant “Never Users”. While I feel strongly that the program will still benefit these children. We can not award stipends for having programs without any tobacco users. Therefore please do not count “Never Users” as program participants. The three participant minimum required to receive materials and stipends are intended to be tobacco users. You may not count never users towards this minimum. If you have any questions or need further clarification please feel free to call me.

Financial adviser Hilary Smith offers this thought-provoking arithmetic problem:

A pack-a-day smoker breaks the habit at age 40, thus saving the $4.32 average cost of a pack of cigarettes. Thereafter, he or she puts the $4.32 per day into a 401(k) retirement plan earning a typical 9 percent a year. How much extra savings will the ex-smoker have at age 70?

Incredible! Middle-aged smokers waste a quarter-million dollars they could obtain if they ended their nicotine addiction. The money benefit from quitting is much greater than most people realize.

Writing for MSN's Money Central, Smith lists several other financial gains from tobacco cessation:

Insurance premiums ― for life, health and home coverage ― are higher for smokers, because puffers have shorter lives, more sickness and more home fires. "From the insurer's point of view: Smokers burn down houses."

Cars driven by smokers become smelly and have less resale value. "A car that is smoked in will soon start to resemble an ashtray on wheels."

Nonsmokers collect more Social Security and pension checks, because they live longer in retirement.

Career opportunities are better for tobacco-free people, because U.S. employers subconsciously see smokers as less-successful people. Increasingly, businesses are refusing to hire smokers. They're screened out during job applications, since employers don't want added health insurance cost and productivity loss from sickness and daily smoke breaks.

"Smokers cost the economy nearly $94 billion yearly in lost productivity," the financial consultant wrote. "An additional $89 billion is estimated spent on public and private health care combined. ... Each American household spends $596 a year in federal and state taxes due to smoking."

Besides all the health reasons to quit smoking, there's another strong incentive: money. It's extremely difficult to break the grip of nicotine, but thoughtful people should struggle for that goal.

Re: Responses to Utilization of Spit Tobacco as a Harm Reduction Cessation Therapy

(*based upon faculty opinions at various state medical and dental schools: see below)

There are several entities including various medical and research clinicians who are touting the use of smokeless tobacco as a ‘less harmful’ alternative to smoking, some even advocating spit tobacco as a safe cessation alternative to smoking. These alternatives to smoking have very little, if any, research upon which to base their recommendations, and state that the only consequential risk of smokeless tobacco use is the potential for mouth cancer. Faculty members at West Virginia Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, and Osteopathy disagree. Oral cancer is a real problem, and that is only one of the harmful outcomes of spit tobacco.

Also, it must also be pointed out that many of the claims that smokeless is a safe alternative come from researchers who have or are currently receiving funding from the tobacco industry. As the tobacco industry steps up its efforts to market alternatives to cigarettes, it is more important than ever that we spread the word that just because a product is labeled “smokeless” does not mean it is a harmless or safe alternative to smoking.

Since the 1980s, United States Surgeons General have concluded that smokeless tobacco products are a cause of serious disease, and are not a safe alternative to cigarettes. West Virginia and neighboring Kentucky lead the nation in smokeless tobacco use, with a rate more than twice the national average. We also lead the nation in edentulousness (loss of teeth), and gum disease. These are serious conditions, with both health and economic implications for those who experience them.

West Virginia has made remarkable strides in the reduction of teen tobacco use and in other tobacco prevention areas, but the fight is far from over. We must continue to help tobacco users quit!

Our state clinicians and public health researchers agree that there is absolutely no reason to use potentially harmful oral tobacco as a nicotine replacement, when it may cause gum disease, loss of teeth, and oral cancer. Furthermore, there are safe nicotine delivery systems that do not cause these problems and that help patients to get off tobacco, and not to use it ever again.

Given the negative health affects associated with smokeless tobacco use, its clear identification as a “gateway” drug in leading to other substance use, including cigarettes, and the availability of safe, over-the-counter, nitrosamine-free nicotine replacement products, smokeless tobacco should never be suggested as an alternative to smoking cigarettes.

Dr. Alan Ducatman, MD, MSc, Chair, Community Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine

Dr. Richard Meckstroth, DDS, Chair, Dental Practice and Rural Health, West Virginia University School of Dentistry

Dr. Gail Swarm, MD, Clinical Coordinator, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

Dr. Robert Walker, MD, Chair, Family Medicine, Marshall University School of Medicine

So far this school year we have 24 N-O-T programs and 21 ATS programs running. I have collected program evaluations for 67 students. 33 percent of the students participating in N-O-T have quit using tobacco and 40 percent have reduced their intake (Compared to other programs which only achieve a 12.63 percent quit rate). When we looked at tobacco use in the ATS program we found that although this program is designed solely as an educational program 4 percent of participants quit and 20 percent reduced their use.

We have provided teachers a total of 396 N-O-T Student Journals and 148 ATS Student Journals so far this year. We have held two NOT facilitator training events with 21 participants certified. We have awarded $9,950 in incentive stipends and $1,450 in mini-grants so far this fiscal year.

I would like to congratulate all facilitators that have provided N-O-T & ATS programs in their schools this school year.

Not On Tobacco Programs
Location	Point of Contact
Scott High School	Kevin Graley
Fayetteville High School	Beverly Hall
Fayetteville High School	John Mark Kincaid
Webster County High School	Carrie Mullens
Cabell-Midland High School	Victoria Carovillano
Brooke Place	Rosie Johnson
Ripley Middle School	Amy Kaskins
Mt. Hope High School	Heather Maynard
Taylor County Middle School	Mary Ann Merrifield
Edison Jr. High	Sandy Harris
Greenbrier East High School	Chris Hall
Wellsburg Middle School	Ed Wohnhas
Wellsburg Middle School	Jeanne Ferrell
Jefferson High School	Linda Lawson
Valley High School	Vicki Scott
East Fairmont Junior High School	Chris Freeman
Bridge Street Middle School	Francie Sagraves
Tolsia High School	Jamie Lahoda
Wellsburg Middle School	Jeanne Ferrell
Wellsburg Middle School	Ed Wohnhas
Wyoming East High School	Karen Green
Lincoln High School	Sandra Fain
Edison Jr. High	Sandy Harris
Morgantwon Area Youth Services	Dawn Neely
Alternative to Suspension Programs
Location	Point of Contact
Sherman High School	Shelia Anderson
South Charleston High School	Cil Payne
Wheeling Park High School	Pattie Hershey
Robert Bland Middle School	Sonya Turner
Lewis County High School	Ed Browning
Sherman High School	Shelia Anderson
Magnolia High School	Donna Sands
Scott High School	Kevin Graley
Wheeling Park High School	Pattie Hershey
Oak Hill High School	Marian Richardson
Calhoun Middle High School	Donna Richards
Scott High School	Kevin Graley
Midland Trail High School	Donnette Terry
Fayetteville High School	Beverly Hall
Fayetteville High School	John Mark Kincaid
New Martnisville School	Donna Sands
Wheeling Park High School	Leo Boissey
Sherman High School	Shelia Anderson
Oak Hill High School	Marian Richardson
Valley High School	Melissa Scyoc
South Charleston High School	Cil Payne

One out of every two people who open this email are breathing polluted air. That could be you.

Don’t forget to order your student journals at least one week before your program is scheduled to start. You can place your journal order online at the same time you request your $50 mini-grant!

Another way of getting incentives is community donations. Explain to local businesses that you are trying to help teens stop smoking, and you will get anything from pizza to sodas donated. This is an excellent way of forming education/community partnerships.

The West Virginia Department of Education’s continued support of the N-O-T program is allowing us to once again provide the $250 stipend for N-O-T classes and $100 stipends for ATS classes. Please remember that stipends are only awarded after all evaluation materials have been returned, unlike the $50 mini-grants that are provided before you begin your sessions.

Mini-Grants

$50 mini-grants are available to get your groups started. The mini-grant can be used to purchase pencils, stress balls and most importantly, food! We have heard many times, “If you feed them, they will come!” Applying for the mini-grant is easy click HERE.

Another positive incentive are the $250 stipends, which are available for facilitators after all evaluation materials have been returned to ALAWV.

Student Journals

Program expenses are kept to a minimum since we provide all required handouts for students in this “journal.” Blank pages are provided for the students to write in.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Department of Education Office Of Healthy schools we now have $100 stipends available for facilitators who use the ATS program in their schools.

You can find all these resources and more at our web site click here à N-O-T

The RESA Tobacco Prevention Program serves as the regional liaison with the school districts to provide training, technical assistance, and staff development to teachers and staff in the areas of tobacco prevention, education and cessation. Available programs include Life Skills Training, Raze/TATU (Teens Against Tobacco) N-O-T (Not On Tobacco-a research-based cessation program for teens), related youth programs which include tobacco prevention initiatives, tobacco policy considerations and community tobacco prevention coalitions and groups. The Tobacco Prevention Specialist can assist with developing alternatives to suspension programs, youth empowerment and prevention activities. The primary focus is to provide training and technical assistance on any implementation activities as well as provide assistance to County Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinators.

Community Development Specialists are trained professionals who work locally in their communities to enhance West Virginia’s prevention system. They provide individuals, families, agencies, organizations, and other groups with technical assistance and training to build capacity for sustainable community-based prevention efforts. To find your Community Development Specialist click here.

If you know of something happening with the N-O-T program that you feel other facilitators would benefit from, please call Tony (304)342-6600 or email tony@alawv.org. The newsletter will be published once a month.

If you are interested in our programs and would like more information, or would like to schedule a visit, please call our office.