Oklahoma and the issue of tobacco

Tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, continues to be the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States. An important public health issue, this has been the focus of much study. Several organizations have issued statements and recommendations for handling this issue. Reducing tobacco use is a key component of Healthy People 2010, the national action plan for improving the health of all Americans. The Surgeon General, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) have put forth valuable guidelines concerning preventive services in the primary care setting, and programs such as Putting Prevention into Practice (PPIP) and state based initiatives have aimed to implement them. States that have taken these messages to heart and acted upon them to fully implement these preventive measures and interventions have had significant success, most notably Oregon, California and Massachusetts. In less than a decade, the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program has evolved into one of the leading public health initiatives of our time. Perhaps by learning from their successes we can bring about a similar change in the state of Oklahoma.