A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO TOBACCO CONTROL DELIVERS THE BEST RESULTS

The Minnesota SimSmoke Tobacco Policy Model considered data on current, new and former smokers in Minnesota from 1993 to 2011 to determine the effectiveness of tobacco control policies on smoking rates. SimSmoke joins a collection of scientific evidence that proves tobacco policies help adults quit smoking and discourage kids from starting.

Comprehensive tobacco prevention efforts such as tax increases, smoke-free air laws, mass media campaigns, youth access laws and cessation treatment have reduced smoking rates by 29 percent in Minnesota from 1993 to 2011.

Tobacco’s price is the largest contributing factor to smoking prevalence in Minnesota. The price of tobacco—the largest individual policy impact—contributed to more than 43 percent of the reduction in smoking rates in Minnesota from 1993 to 2011.

Raising the price of tobacco products is one of the most effective ways to keep youth from starting to smoke.

For each 10 percent increase in price, smoking rates among 15 to 17-year-olds will be reduced by 6 percent.

But price increases cannot act alone. Smoke-free policies, mass media campaigns, cessation treatment and youth access laws each contribute to decreasing Minnesota’s smoking rate.

Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act—implemented in 2007—and other smoke-free policies account for 20 percent

of the drop in the state’s smoking prevalence.

TOBACCO POLICIES SAVE LIVES

Policies such as price increases and aggressive media campaigns could reduce smoking prevalence in Minnesota to less than 10 percent and save more than 55,000 Minnesota lives by 2041.

Minnesota’s tobacco prevention efforts are collectively saving lives.

SimSmoke illustrates that current tobacco control measures have already prevented nearly 3,000 deaths in Minnesota since 1993.

When implemented together, these policies are strengthened and can contribute to a change in social norms – and save more lives.

Minnesota must show a renewed interest in supporting and strengthening tobacco control measures. Let’s start by raising the price of tobacco in Minnesota in 2013.

SimSmoke research is sponsored by ClearWay MinnesotaSM, an independent nonprofit organization working to reduce tobacco’s harms in Minnesota. This research was conducted and co-authored by Dr. David Levy, Dr. Raymond Boyle and Dr. David Abrams. It was published in November 2012 by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.