10 years of tobacco-free schools

by Peg O'Connell, consultant, lobbyist and NC SPIN panelist, September 6, 2018.

North Carolina schools just observed the 10th anniversary of the 100 percent Tobacco-free Schools Law. When this law passed in 2008, NC immediately became a national leader in protecting its children from the dangers of tobacco use and a lifetime of addiction and illness.

The Schools Law, combined with a robust youth tobacco use prevention program funded by the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, helped reduce the number of kids smoking by 50 percent—a remarkable achievement in a state once relied so heavily on cigarette manufacture.

But, as I have written in this space before, as soon as we started to make real progress in protecting our kids from smoking, new more sophisticated and draconian products began to come on the market. We have seen a huge increase in the number of kids who are trying and consistently using e-cigarettes. Vaping, as it is called, may be different from smoking but it is equally as dangerous and possibly even more addictive in the long term.

The Tobacco-Free Schools Law we adopted ten years ago was well written and had an eye to the future. The NC policy, unlike some states’ laws which only prohibit smoking at school, prohibits all tobacco products, including the dreaded e-cigarette.

This ten year anniversary gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the good this law has done and to recommit ourselves to vigorously protecting the health and lives of our children.

Well done Tobacco-Free Schools Law!