Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program

Key Messages:

• Tobacco companies target youth as replacement tobacco users.
• Smokeless tobacco and non-FDA approved nicotine innovations are not a safe alternative to smoking.
• The Montanat Tobacco Quit Line is free to all Montanans regardless of income or insurance status.
• There is no safe exposure level of seconhand smoke.
• Tobacco companies spend millions of dollars in Montana each year on advertising and targeting teens.
• There is no safe level of commercial tobacco use.

The Gallatin County Tobacco Use Prevention Program is a community based program that is addressing the public health crisis caused by the use of all forms of commercial tobacco products. Our plans for 2010-2011 will use best practices and build on past successes to: 

• Prevent local youth from beginning a lifetime of addiction to commercial tobacco products.
• Eliminate exposure to the hazardous effects of secondhand smoke and actively support the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act of 2005.
• Eliminate disparities related to tobacco use and its effects among certain population groups such as women of childbearing age, and low-income families.
• Help communities increase the number of housing and apartment complexes with smokefree designations.