Tobacco & Tipton County

     Are you aware of how many people in Tipton County use tobacco products? This type of specific information is not easy to come by; however, there is a vast amount of statistics regarding Tennessee tobacco use available. Tobacco is the most used drug in Tipton County. Someone may ask why tobacco use is even a topic for public and private health. Here are some reasons:

• In 2004 in Tennessee there were 9,662 deaths attributed to tobacco use.

• Tennessee is the 14th highest state in the nation for tobacco related deaths.

• Tennessee is also the 14th highest state in tobacco use with 1,202,829 tobacco users.

• Tennessee has the fourth highest smoking percentage per state with 27.8%.

• This is well above the national average of 23.1%.

     However, we are speaking of adults who are free to choose to partake in a lifestyle that kills more people per year than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined. Yet, 27.8% of all adults in Tennessee still choose to use tobacco. If there were knowledge that a certain road had a hazardous chemical spill in Memphis and just driving down that road put you at risk for disease and death, how many of us would still risk our lives? Would it be 27.8% of the population of Tennessee? I doubt it. Yet smoking rates continue to move upward. When you add in the increase in population in Tipton County of 42% in the last five years, it means more people are smoking. If that is not enough reason to bring awareness to tobacco use, then maybe we can find reason in these facts:

• Tennessee has the ninth highest percentage of high school smokers with 32.4%.

• This is almost a full 10% higher than the national average of 22.9%.

• There are over 78,000 teenage smokers in Tennessee alone, with a projected 401,031 new smokers on the way.

• This also translates into a projected 128,330 deaths due to tobacco use.

     Some may say, “That is the state of Tennessee, but Tipton County is not that bad.” However, data collected from the YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey) here in Tipton County schools indicate that almost 30% of high school students smoke daily. In addition, nearly 14% of middle school age children (11-15 years of age) said they smoke on a daily basis. All this translates into a large amount of our adults and children using tobacco. Our kids are using at a high rate and at a young age and even though adults users know the dangers they still continue to use tobacco.

     The Tipton County Drug Coalition wants to bring awareness and education to the drug problems in Tipton County. This year our focus is underage tobacco use. The coalition is conducting a project called “Tobacco Stinks” in the county using prevention strategies to deter underage tobacco use. We will accomplish this by educating the county on tobacco use and dangers, as well as doing compliance surveys with tobacco retailers. We have a billboard displaying anti-tobacco slogans on Highway 51, and it will be our effort to remind Tipton County residents that “Tobacco Stinks.” 

--Steven Liles
Statistics provided by the CDC and the 2004 YRBS