Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 5 Jun 2017

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From YouTube: Keeping Kids Off of Tobacco

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Find out how Baltimore County’s Health Department is making strides in preventing the sale of tobacco products to minors.

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Welcome to hello, baltimore county., I'm your host, ellen kobler.. We all know that tobacco use is one of the single worst things we can do for our health.

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But quitting can be tough and kids are still tempted to try it.

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Vicki keller heads up the county's tobacco prevention and cessation programs, and she is here to help..

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Thank you so much for joining us. thank you.. First of all,, the department of health was recently recognized.

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For your tremendously successful enforcement program.

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That prevents retailers from selling tobacco products to young people.

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Tell us about that., that's right.

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Two years ago, baltimore county had a very high rate of sales to minors,.

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And the county administration, as well as the department of health.

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Aggressively addressed the issue by implementing an enforcement program.

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through the enforcement program,, we've been able to very successfully.

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Decrease the rate of tobacco sales to minors.

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I mean, we've got the chart on screen,, it's phenomenal., more than half of retailers initially were selling to minors,.

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And you've got it down to about one percent..

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That's correct.,.

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Now, that is what the state figures are.

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And our internal figures as well have dropped significantly.

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How did you do this? well,? We hired a number of enforcement staff;, we call them "health enforcement officers," and a number of minors --.

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Youth under the age of 18 years old,, and we form enforcement teams.

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And these teams go to our retailers and the youth will attempt.

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To make a purchase of a tobacco product.

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While the enforcement officer observes the sale.

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And that's very important because if the retailer should decide.

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To go to a hearing,, it's important that the officer observe the entire sale. okay,. So there was a witness, yeah., yes, yes. so,. If the youth is sold, the tobacco product.

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Then the officer will issue a citation with the appropriate fine.

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If the retailer does not ask the youth for identification.

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So that he can make a determination if the youth is over the age of 18,.

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Then the enforcement officer will again issue a correction notice.

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Or a citation with the appropriate fine.

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What kind of fines are you talking? About?.

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Well, for sales to the minor,, the first offense in a calendar year is $500.

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Okay,, that's not--, that's a serious amount of money.

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yes.. The second offense is $1,000.

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And the third and subsequent offenses within that calendar year are $1,500.

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If a retailer does not ask for identification of the youth,.

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Then the first offense results in a correction notice,.

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The second,, a $100 fine, and the third and subsequent, $250 fines.

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So,, obviously, the county health department,.

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The county executive kamenetz see this as a very important issue.

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To prevent teens from being able to buy tobacco., why is it so critically, important? yes. well,? It's important to keep youth from accessing tobacco.

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Because we don't want them smoking at an early age., there is just too much of a severe health consequence.

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With starting tobacco use, early.

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nicotine, teens especially, are very sensitive.

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To the negative effects of nicotine., their brains are sort of still wired a little differently than adults.

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Yes, absolutely. in fact, teens are-- become dependent on nicotine.

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So much faster than an adult can.

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really? yes. and it's very addictive.

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Ninety percent of adults actually started tobacco use, --.

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Those who smoke started before the age of 18.

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yeah, that rings true.

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And another eight percent before they were 26 years, old.

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So it's very addictive and it's very deadly.

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Every year, tobacco actually kills over 480,000 people in this country.

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That's over 1,300 people, a day., oh my gosh!, tobacco kills more people than alcohol, aids, car accidents,.

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Overdoses, murders, and suicides -- combined.

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Good grief. combined. so,, it's an important program.

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If a third of our youth today, who are smoking.

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Continue to smoke into adulthood,, they will die prematurely.

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Of a tobacco-related illness.

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and it's all because of a decision they made as a child.

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So it's very important for not just retailers but for parents and educators,.

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Guidance counselors, everyone to try to keep youth from accessing tobacco and from using tobacco at an early age.

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So, besides enforcement,, what other strategies does the county do.

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To reduce the use of tobacco by young people?.

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We have a number of outreach and education programs to raise awareness.

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We actually provide grants to schools in order to allow them.

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To enhance or supplement their current tobacco curriculums.

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So they can apply for a grant to conduct a tobacco education, program.

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We also have funding available for community groups.

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To be able to do the same, thing: conduct tobacco programs to teach youth about the dangers.

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Okay., so if somebody wants some assistance from the county,.

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They can contact you?, yes. nice!.

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Yes,, the funding should be available on or about july, one.

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And they can call 410-887-3828 to get the applications.

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And those applications will also be on our website.

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Okay, and what, if someone already is a tobacco user --.

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Whether they're a teen or an adult --, what help is available to them from the county?.

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We have lots of resources for adults who would like to quit. Smoking.

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We offer classes throughout the county...

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free, classes? and they're completely free, yes.

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There are usually four or five classes going on at any given time.

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Throughout the county- and those are group classes.

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So,, if one has attempted to quit before on their own,.

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I would suggest that they try to quit by attending a group class.

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Because we have an expert instructor and they have the benefit of that knowledge.

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As well as the benefit of having other people in the group.

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Where they can discuss the challenges of quitting., if one doesn't want to go to a group class,, which is a multiple session class,, we do have individual counseling.

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You can get an individual counseling? yes. every tuesday afternoon at the lansdowne baltimore highlands, health center.

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We offer free--, you can call for an appointment or you can just walk in.

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Yes, free classes., that's phenomenal.,.

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And then on wednesday mornings at the sollers point multipurpose center.

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We also have a walk-in clinic and we do provide free nicotine replacement therapy products.

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For all those who participate in our classes, -- either the classes or the individual sessions.

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we can provide nicotine patches, gum, lozenges,.

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And also chantix with a prescription.

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and that's at no charge? no charge at all.

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wow! no charge at all.

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That sounds like it's almost like: there's no excuse not to at least try.

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That's right.. You mentioned what a lot of my friends and family have experienced where somebody tries to quit,, maybe they're using one of these products,.

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Maybe they re not,, but it doesn't work., and so they start to feel like I can't quit., but I'm hearing you say that if you've tried and it hasn't, worked, try again.

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and do it, maybe with some of these structured resources.

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Yes., we always tell people to try, try again..

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It takes an average of seven attempts before one is successful.

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At actually quitting. okay, say that again. it takes an average of seven attempts to be successful at quitting.

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Now,, if one doesn't want to go to a class or doesn't want to do a walk-in.

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Or an individual counseling session,, then I would suggest.

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That they call mdquit and get a phone counseling.

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They can do that. and mdquit also provides nicotine replacement products for free.

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Or there are apps available, smokingstopshere.com.

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But if one is interested in quitting, they can call our office.

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And we'll walk them through all the available options.

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okay, and tell us again about some of these products.

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That can be made available to people working with your program.

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Yes, we will give several weeks worth of whatever is best for them,.

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Whatever is going to help them in their quit attempt., we offer the patches in different strengths,.

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We offer the lozenges, as well as the gum.

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And as I said, with a prescription, if one wants chantix.

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All right, well, thank you so very much.

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and thank you for watching hello, baltimore county..

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We encourage you to connect with baltimore county government on facebook and twitter and we'll see you next time.

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