Director's Corner
Election Results and Tobacco Control
November 14, 2016
The recent elections resulted in Republican takeover of the White House and retention of control of both houses of Congress. In addition, several initiatives regarding tobacco taxation and marijuana legalization were featured on state ballots. What do these election results...
New Youth-Focused Rules for Tobacco Products
May 19, 2016
This month two major governmental actions—one by the federal FDA and one by the state of California—were announced that have the potential to change the landscape regarding the use of tobacco products. As most users of our web site know, after long deliberation the FDA just...
In Memoriam: Margaret (Peggy) Walsh
February 01, 2016
Margaret (Peggy) Walsh, a renowned dental hygienist, tobacco control expert, and professor at the UCSF Dental School died January 23, 2016 at the age of 69 after a courageous three year battle against her illness. Peggy was a tireless crusader on behalf of reducing the use of...
Should Public Housing be Smoke-Free?
January 11, 2016
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has recently issued a proposed rule that would require all public housing agencies (PHAs) to implement smoke-free policies in their developments. This would entail implementing a policy “prohibiting lit tobacco...
Is Smoking Yesterday’s News?
September 09, 2015
When I tell people what I do, they often ask, “isn’t smoking on its way out”? That attitude may be reinforced by the September, 2015 report from the CDC showing that for the first quarter of 2015 age-adjusted smoking rates for adults hit a modern low of 15.3%, down from 20.6% in...
Smoking and Behavioral Health: Is there a national strategy?
April 09, 2015
During a recent phone call, the leader of one of our partner organizations asked Catherine Saucedo and me if there exists a national strategy to reduce smoking rates within the behavioral health population. It was a great question, and the short answer was “not yet, but one...
Smoking Rates Continue to Decline
December 15, 2014
The CDC recently updated its statistics about current cigarette smoking among adults. In its MMWR article of November 28, 2014, it tracked changes in smoking between 2005 and 2013. In general, the trends of previous years continued. Here are some of the results: The proportion...
CVS Leads: Will Other Pharmacies Follow?
September 24, 2013
CVS Caremark stunned the business community on February 5, 2014 when it announced that as of October 1, 2014 it would no longer sell tobacco products in its 7600 pharmacies. In explaining its decision to forgo up to $2 billion in annual revenue, CVS highlighted the growing...