Learn To Be ... Tobacco Free

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death and disease in the nation. Nicotine is an extremely addictive substance. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has developed a comprehensive tobacco control program called "Learn To Be ... Tobacco Free (LTBTF)." It is based on CDC's guidelines in "Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs." There are four main components of the program:

- A school-based initiative includes prevention, adolescent cessation, and youth empowerment messages.
- A counter-marketing/public education component targets adults with cessation and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) messages, and youth with prevention and empowerment messages.
- The adult community cessation program, which is in great demand, is available to residents throughout the county.
- Programs are offered that deal with compliance with all clean indoor air laws, youth access laws, as well as a mandated vendor education program for merchants registered by the state to sell tobacco products in Suffolk County. All programs are offered free of charge to county residents.

The goals of this program are to prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to nicotine, to help those addicted to quit, and to reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for all residents.

Almost from its inception, demand for the community cessation program has been very high. The County Executive and legislature agreed to appropriate 20 percent of the Master Settlement dollars allocated to Suffolk for tobacco control in 2000. On average, the program has spent approximately $3 million each year since 2000.