Tobacco

WHAT IS TOBACCO?

The primary ingredient in tobacco is nicotine. Nicotine is an extremely addictive poison.

COMMON Tobacco Products include: cigarettes, cigars/cigarillos, pipe tobacco, hookah, spit/chew tobacco, e-cigarettes etc.

TOBACCO IN HAWAII

• 1,400 lives lost to tobacco use each year in Hawai’i

• 10% of high school students in Hawai’i smoke

• $526 million tobacco-related health care costs to Hawai’i taxpayers each year

HEALTH RISKS

• Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes diseases and reduces one’ health

• Heart disease

• Stroke

• Cancers/ Lung cancer

• COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) including emphysema and chronic bronchitis

• Smoking can cause complications during pregnancy such as eptopic pregnancy and miscarriage

• Smoking while can pregnant can lead to stillbirth, premature birth and low birthweight babies

Effects of Secondhand Smoke (ETS):

Secondhand smoke is the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers mixed together with the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe. Approximately 200+ kids are killed each year from respiratory distress and fires caused by ETS and unattended cigarettes.

LEGAL PENALTIES

• It is illegal for tobacco products to be sold to minors under 21 years old in Hawaii

• Federal law requires merchants selling tobacco to ask for a photo ID with purchase of tobacco products

• In Hawai’i it is illegal to smoke 20 feet from any public building or public space (including beaches)

QUIT NOW

Free Coaching/Free Patches

Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669)

Hawaiiquitline.org

Sources: The Honolulu Police Department Narcotics/Vice Division, The State of Hawaii‘I/Department of Health/Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division ; The American Lung Association 2005; The Honolulu Advertiser; Epidemiologic Trends in Drug Abuse; Tobacco Use in America: Findings From the 2003 National Household Survey, REAL: Teens Against Big Tobacco, Cancer Prevention and Early Detection 2004; Cancer Facts & Figures 2004; Hawaii Youth Tobacco Survey, Middle School and High School Highlights, 2001-2003, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.