Commissioners proclaimed Feb. 21-27 as “Through with Chew Week” in Okeechobee County. About Tobacco Free Florida
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OKEECHOBEE – At the request of Courtney Moyett, from the Tobacco Free Partnership of Okeechobee, at their Feb. 25 meeting the commissioners proclaimed Feb. 21-27 as “Through with Chew Week” in Okeechobee County.
About Tobacco Free Florida
According to the county staff report, November 2006, Florida voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment, Article X, Section 27, that called for establishing a comprehensive tobacco education and use prevention program using a percentage of the state’s tobacco settlement fund. As a result, Tobacco Free Florida (TFF) launched in 2007. TFF is administered through the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida (BTFF), and funded by money derived from the state’s tobacco settlement agreement with the major tobacco companies in 1997.
These tobacco lawsuits were intended to punish cigarette makers for decades of fraud and racketeering and to help states pay for the Medicaid and other public health expenses to cover sick smokers. Florida was among three other states - Texas, Mississippi and Minnesota - that settled with the tobacco industry before the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 between the other 46 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
While smokeless tobacco use among Florida youth (age 11-17) has decreased throughout the years, many rural communities have significantly higher prevalence rates. The current youth smokeless tobacco rates in some of Florida’s rural areas are two to four times higher than the state average, the staff report added.
Per the 2018 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey, Okeechobee County is more than double the state percent of youth who currently use smokeless tobacco (Okeechobee 3.6%, Florida 1.7%).
“Smokeless tobacco is something a lot of people don’t focus on because they feel it doesn’t affect people as much as cigarette smoke does,” said Moyett. “Okeechobee County has double the state percent of youth who currently use smokeless tobacco, and almost triple the state percentage for youth who have ever tried smokeless tobacco.”
She said the problems with smokeless tobacco are higher in agricultural areas.
