Findings from the latest Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey (MATS) show that Minnesota’s progress in reducing smoking has stalled. The state’s adult smoking rate has declined to 13.8 percent, down from 14.4 percent in 2014. The decrease was not statistically significant and is the smallest decline seen since the MATS study began in 1999.

Conducted by ClearWay Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health, MATS surveyed Minnesota residents about smoking, e-cigarette and other tobacco use, and secondhand smoke exposure.

“Minnesota has long been a leader in tobacco prevention and cessation, but we are seeing that progress stalling,” said lead researcher Ann St. Claire, Associate Director of Evaluation and Survey Research for ClearWay Minnesota. “Research shows that policies like price increases and clean indoor air laws help drive down smoking rates, and we’ve seen the impact of those policies in past MATS reports. Today, we must continue using proven approaches to reduce the smoking rate, such as additional price increases and raising the tobacco age to 21.”

MATS found dramatic shifts in who was using e-cigarettes. The rate of e-cigarette use among all adults remained unchanged from 2014 (6 percent in 2018 vs. 5.9 percent in 2014). However, while the rate of cigarette smoking among young adults aged 18-24 fell significantly, from 15.3 percent to 8.5 percent, ecigarette use in this age group nearly doubled, from 12.8 percent to 21.9 percent, reflecting trends also seen in 2017’s Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey.

Disturbingly, the study also found a sharp increase in e-cigarette use among people who have no prior history of smoking. Forty-four percent of e-cigarette users in 2018 said they had never smoked cigarettes – a significant increase from 2014 (11.7 percent).

“Over the past 20 years, Minnesota made great strides in reducing tobacco use,” said Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm. “But in the face of new challenges from the tobacco industry, like e-cigarettes, the future of tobacco use in our state is once again uncertain. We must do everything we can to prevent our young people from starting tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, and we must provide current smokers free and easy help to quit.”

Another factor that contributed to the stalled progress was fewer Minnesotans quitting smoking. Fewer smokers made quit attempts, and fewer successfully quit.

“We know that easy access to help like counseling and medications can double a smoker’s chance of quitting for good,” said ClearWay Minnesota Vice President Paula Keller. “Minnesota tobacco users currently have free quitting help available to them through QUITPLAN Services, but more can be done to encourage them to take advantage of that help. We also need to ensure there is dedicated funding for ongoing services to help people quit once QUITPLAN Services closes its doors early next year.”

Other findings from MATS 2018 include:

*Approximately 574,000 adult Minnesotans continue to smoke. Smoking rates are highest among Minnesotans who have completed fewer years of education and have lower incomes than nonsmokers.

*Minnesotans with less than a high school education have the highest smoking rate at 33.4 percent.

* Fewer smokers are making quit attempts. Fewer than half of all smokers, 45.7 percent, reported making a quit attempt in the past 12 months, down from 53.4 percent in 2014.

*Menthol cigarettes are used by more than a quarter (27.5 percent) of all smokers. Women smokers use menthol cigarettes at a rate of 33.8 percent, while those with less than a high school education have the highest menthol use rate of all education groups at 37.2 percent.

*Flavored e-cigarettes attract young adults. Nearly all young adult e-cigarette users (96.7 percent) report their usual brand of e-cigarettes is flavored.

*Minnesotans value smoke-free air. The percentage of Minnesotans with smoke-free home rules has increased to 92 percent (from 89.3 percent in 2014). Even 66.3 percent of smokers have smoke-free home rules.

Released approximately every four years, MATS provides comprehensive information about smoking rates and tobacco-related behaviors, attitudes and beliefs in the adult Minnesota population, and serves as a tool for measuring the progress of Minnesota’s tobacco prevention efforts. Previous surveys were conducted in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2014. The full report and a fact sheet are available at ClearWay Minnesota’s Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey webpage.

This month, ClearWay Minnesota launched a new campaign to shed light on the hidden harms of tobacco addiction. The campaign highlights teen tobacco use, the smoking-related costs borne by all Minnesotans, and Big Tobacco’s youth-focused marketing tactics – all under the theme of See What You’ve Been Missing.

“The tobacco industry is still causing tremendous harm, but it’s more hidden from view than it used to be,” said Michael Sheldon, ClearWay Minnesota’s Director of Marketing. “Through this campaign, ClearWay Minnesota hopes to bring attention to how the tobacco industry targets our youth and costs all of us money, even Minnesotans who don’t smoke.”

While Minnesota has made significant progress in the last two decades to reduce tobacco’s harm, tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease. New tobacco products also threaten to disrupt efforts to reduce youth smoking. For the first time in 17 years, the rate of youth tobacco use rose in Minnesota in 2017, due to large increases in teens using e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products.

The See What You’ve Been Missing campaign began as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced new proposals to curb youth e-cigarette addiction, which the agency calls an epidemic. Through powerful ads, See What You’ve Been Missing calls attention to rising youth tobacco rates and to the dangers of e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products.

The campaign website, MissingItMN.org, includes helpful information for parents and adults about e-cigarettes and what the latest products look like, signs a child might be vaping, a smoking-related cost calculator and information on tobacco industry marketing. The campaign launched November 12 and includes TV, radio, digital and out-of-home advertising, paid social and search, and an interactive website. The campaign will run through late 2019. Haberman is the creative partner for the campaign.

“In the face of rising health care costs and the new threat of youth e-cigarette use, Minnesotans need to re-commit to making tobacco prevention a public health priority,” Sheldon added. “Big Tobacco is still up to their old tricks, but is using new tactics. We hope highlighting the tobacco industry’s addictive and costly schemes will bring urgency to the tobacco issues we face, so Minnesotans will take action to prevent a generation of youth nicotine addiction.”

You can view the new ads below.

Vaping School from ClearWay Minnesota on Vimeo.

Price Check from ClearWay Minnesota on Vimeo.

 

ClearWay Minnesota is proud to release our 2018 Annual Report, commemorating 20 years of our work to reduce tobacco’s harm in Minnesota. The report highlights our history of activities in areas of cessation, marketing and communications, research, public affairs, and community development. These highlights include:

• Results of two decades of tobacco control work in Minnesota, including smoking declines, lives and money saved, and Minnesotans making their homes smoke-free;
• 175,000 Minnesota tobacco users getting free help to quit through QUITPLAN Services;
• Award-winning advertising campaigns;
• $32 million in research grants and contracts given to Minnesota researchers;
• Policies to protect youth from the tobacco industry passed at the state and local levels;
• Partnerships with American Indian Nations and diverse communities; and
• Reflections from our outgoing Board Chair.

Also included are a list of Board Members since our inception and statements of our financial position and activities for Fiscal Year 2018.

20th Anniversary Annual Report

This week, ClearWay Minnesota’s Board of Directors will celebrate our nonprofit tobacco control organization’s 20^th anniversary. Founded with the state’s tobacco settlement, we have spent the past 20 years using proven science and innovative programs to reduce the burden caused by smoking and nicotine addiction in our state.

“The dramatic decrease in smoking in recent decades is one of the greatest public health accomplishments in Minnesota history,” said Laurie Lafontaine, ClearWay Minnesota’s Board Chair. “ClearWay Minnesota has been at the center of a movement to help smokers quit and stop kids from ever starting.”

Today, smoking rates among Minnesota adults and youth are at all-time lows. The anniversary also follows a new study showing other results of our work since the settlement. Conducted by HealthPartners Institute, the study found activities by ClearWay Minnesota and other health organizations have prevented thousands of Minnesota deaths, prevented tens of thousands of hospitalizations from smoking-related diseases, and saved more than $5 billion in excess health care costs and lost worker productivity.

Founded in 1998, ClearWay Minnesota was created with 3 percent ($202 million) of the settlement Minnesota received from the cigarette companies following a long legal battle. National and state leaders and health experts, including Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey and Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Richard Hurt, helped create a plan to administer ClearWay Minnesota as an independent nonprofit with a 25-year lifespan.

Over the course of the past two decades, we have grown to be among the most comprehensive tobacco control organizations in the country. Its work encompasses cessation, marketing and communications, research, public affairs and community development activities.

Highlights of ClearWay Minnesota’s work include:

• QUITPLAN® Services, a free, cutting-edge program that’s given quitting help to 175,000 Minnesotans;
• Leadership of a health coalition that’s helped pass major local and statewide policies like Tobacco 21, flavored tobacco restrictions, cigarette price increases and the Freedom to Breathe Act;
• $30 million in grants given to scientists studying tobacco issues and exploring new ways to eliminate its harms;
• Innovative research projects like the Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, the best source of data about smoking and tobacco use in the state;
• Investments in the communities most affected by smoking’s harms, such as partnerships with tribes working to restore traditional tobacco practices and reduce commercial tobacco abuse; and
• Major advertising campaigns that have educated about tobacco’s harms and encouraged Minnesota smokers to seek quitting help.

“These accomplishments show what happens when proven strategies are applied to a critical health issue like smoking,” said David Willoughby, ClearWay Minnesota’s Chief Executive Officer since 2000. “QUITPLAN Services are scheduled to end in 2020, with ClearWay Minnesota closing our doors a few years later. With the tobacco industry mastering new ways to attract kids and addict them to nicotine, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Unless the state dedicates new funding to preventing and fighting nicotine addiction, the health of our state and the future of our kids will both suffer.”

He added, “Our elected officials must continue to make a difference in the lives of our people, helping them live longer and save money, both for themselves and taxpayers. The progress our state has made in reducing tobacco’s harm must continue.”