New York City's Five-Point
Tobacco Control Plan
- Taxation: Raising the price
of cigarettes through a tax is one of the most effective ways to discourage
tobacco use. Higher prices help prevent children and teens from ever starting
to smoke and encourage current smokers to cut down or stop smoking altogether.
Because of both state and city taxes, the average price of cigarettes in New
York City is now over $11, making it the most expensive pack in the United
States.
- Legal Action: Better
enforcement of existing regulations, strengthening of current law, and
creation of new legislation are powerful tools to help curb or prevent tobacco
use. This includes limiting children's access to tobacco, protecting workers
from the cancer-causing chemicals in secondhand smoke, restricting tobacco
companies' marketing and promotional venues, and ensuring access to quitting
options for all smokers who want to stop.
- Cessation: There are over
a million smokers in New York City and 70% of them want to quit. Although more
than half of them try to stop each year, many are unsuccessful. To help New
Yorkers become and stay tobacco-free, the Department is focusing on activities
to increase the number of quit attempts per smoker and increase the likelihood
of success of each quit attempt.
- Public Education: The
tobacco industry spends nearly $13 billion a year trying to get people to
smoke. And even though one New Yorker dies every hour from tobacco, many
people still don't realize just how bad smoking is to their health. To counter
industry marketing, the Department utilizes media campaigns to better educate
New Yorkers on the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke as well as
resources to help them quit.
- Evaluation and Monitoring:
Simple, meaningful indicators that are tracked regularly help ensure that the
work of the Department is effective. This includes not only measuring changes
in smoking behavior after new initiatives but also monitoring tobacco industry
tactics as well as innovations in tobacco control to respond to new
developments better and anticipate changes to adjust our program and
approach.
For more information, call 311.
