What is your estimate of the percentage of Coos County adults who smoke tobacco? When asked that question, most people in Coos County will give an answer in the range of 40 to 70%. The majority guess somewhere over 50%, based largely on how many people they see smoking. Does this agree with your estimate? The current officially reported figure is actually 27%,about half of what most people commonly believe. The good news is that smoking rates are much lower than most people realize. About 75% of the adults in Coos County are tobacco smoke free. The bad news is that people perceive smoking rates to be much higher than they really are. This is especially problematic for young people. It is not unusual for eighth graders to state that they believe as many as 80%of adults smoke in Coos County. What does this say about their perception of the normalcy of smoking? Over 40% per cent of eighth grade young women live in a household that includes a smoker.

Perceptions of normalcy have a lot to do with whether or not children initiate smoking. Living in a culture that tolerates smoking greatly increases the chances that young people will take up smoking. Being around adults who smoke is one of the most significant risk factors for initiating tobacco use. Decreasing young people's exposure to smoking adults helps to protect them from both the deleterious effects of second hand smoke, and from becoming smokers. This is important, because most all long term tobacco users, about 9out of 10, begin smoking as teens.

Tobacco is primarily a pediatric disease that continues into adult life. Advertising restrictions and the creation of smoke free public areas are two ways that we can help align teens' perceptions with the reality that most people do not smoke. When children see people smoking in public, on the street, at fairs and other events, and in the movies or advertising, it contributes to their overestimation of the normality of smoking.

Because public tobacco use has for some time been the norm in our culture, and because of a natural inclination to not restrict personal freedoms, there is often considerable debate over whether or not public smoking should be banned. It is helpful to imagine what it would be like, if for many years our environment had been smoke free. What if, exposure to toxic secondhand tobacco smoke or to people openly smoking was not a common part of the public arena? What if, after we had been living for some duration of time in a tobacco smoke free world, a small percentage of people began lobbying for their "right" to pollute the air and environment and act as live advertisements for an industry attempting to steal our young people's freedom by luring them into a lifelong, life diminishing, and life shortening addiction to their product? Would we then allow public smoking? We tend to accept circumstances that lead us into believing that the default or standard condition is smoking, but perhaps instead we should consider the acceptable default to be clean air and a healthy environment and promoting a wholesome lifestyle. The question then becomes whether we should allow public smoking, not whether we should ban it.

The Women's Health Coalition walk is as moke free event. Walking is an ideal way to help maintain health and physical fitness. It can also help with smoking cessation, by temporarily reducing the craving and other withdrawal symptoms suffered when quitting nicotine. Walking can also help burn up those few extra calories thatyour healthier body is able to absorb when you stop smoking, and thus prevent the small weight gain many people experience after quitting. Tobacco use is the antithesis of a healthful lifestyle. It is also the single greatest preventable threat to good health for women and men. We greatly appreciate your help in making this a smoke free event. Thank you for not smoking.

Dr. Stephen Brown Coos County Public Health Member of the Coos County Women's Health Coalition

Tobacco Cessation Resources: DOCS: Coos Bay or North Bend: 269-8077; Bandon or Coquille: 267-0851

Oregon Tobacco Quitline:1-800-Quit-Now (1-800-784-8669);Español: 1-877-2NO-FUME(1-877-266-3863); TTY: 1-877-777-6534