Rhode Island Tobacco Control Program

Want to quit smoking? 1-800-Try-To-Stop (1-800-879-8678) (Spanish) 1-800-8-Déjalo (1-800-833-5256) or Ya No Fumo (401-728-5920) 1-800-TDD-1477 (Hearing Impaired)

Facts:

• Every year, 1,800 Rhode Islanders die from smoking
• and 200 people in the state die from exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Nineteen percent of high school students smoke, and 5% of high school males use smokeless tobacco.
• Twenty-two percent of adults smoke, and 53,000 children are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.
• In Rhode Island 0.9 million packs of cigarettes are illegally sold to children and youth each year.
• Health care expenditures directly related to tobacco use exceed $396 million every year.
• Tobacco costs Rhode Islanders $170 million in taxes for health care and $90 million in Medicaid payments.
• Additional annual expenditures in Rhode Island for babies' health problems caused by smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy is $4 to $13 million.

Progress made by TCP:

• Rhode Island is the seventh state in the nation to become smoke-free, effective 01 March 2005.
• High school smoking fell from 35% to 19 % between 1997 and 2003.
• The percentage of public high school students who ever tried cigarette smoking fell from 69.1% in 1997 to 49.7% in 2003.
• Rhode Island tobacco retail sales to underage youth decreased from 35% in 1997 to 17% in 2003.
• Smoking rates in adults dropped from 26% in 1990 to 22% in 2002.
• Rhode Island's Tobacco Control Program helps prevent children from ever starting to use tobacco and helps smokers and users of smokeless tobacco quit.