Tobacco Prevention

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Tobacco Statistics

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death.

Tobacco use contributes to over 7,000 deaths in Oregon each year and costs $2.5 billion in medical spending due to lost productivity and early death.

Tobacco-related deaths are almost always due to one of three causes: cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory disease.

The tobacco industry spends more than $111 million a year on marketing in Oregon retail establishments.

About the Program

Oregon's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program (TPEP) was launched in 1997 with a clear and simple mandate — to reduce tobacco-related illness and death. In Klamath County, the Tobacco Prevention and Education Program works with several community partners to prevent and reduce tobacco-related deaths in our community. TPEP has four main goals and uses several evidenced-based strategies to reach those goals.

Program Goals

TPEP’s four goals for making Oregon communities safer and healthier:

  • Eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke
  • Help smokers quit
  • Identify and eliminate tobacco related disparities in all populations
  • Prevent youth from initiating tobacco use

Strategies

TPEP supports proven strategies to reduce tobacco use, including:

  • Improving access to affordable and effective cessation services
  • Promoting smoke-free environments
  • Reducing youth exposure to tobacco marketing
  • Warning of tobacco’s dangers

Resources

freedom from smoking

The Freedom From Smoking Program is an in-person group clinic that includes eight sessions with a small group of eight to 16 people. Classes are led by a certified facilitator. The program features a step-by-step plan for quitting smoking and transitioning to a smokefree lifestyle. Each session is designed to help smokers gain control over their behavior, and because no single quit smoking plan is effective for all smokers, the program has a variety of evidence-based techniques for individuals to combine into their own plan to quit smoking.