OPINION: The St. Francis approach to ending the tobacco epidemic
How do you make a 40 year old public health message relatable to young people? How do you inform young people that the lies told to them by Big Tobacco about vaping and e-cigarettes today are mirror images of the lies their grandparents were told by Big Tobacco decades ago? How do we offer support, guidance and resources for tobacco harm reduction with a modern sexy approach that will help young people take the steps necessary to reduce their smoking habit?
These are difficult questions, with difficult answers. At this point, we know plenty about tobacco and nicotine — it’s addictive and dangerous. The Great American Smoke Out is as old as I am — 40 years old. And in those 40 years, a model has been developed by the American Cancer Society to help people to quit smoking for a day. I actually own a Larry Hagman rubber band bracelet that was distributed to smokers (in the early 1980s) to “snap” every time they felt the urge to smoke. What a fabulous idea at the time: a clear public health message using the influence of a popular television actor and television show to help people change their habits. Did it work? Perhaps, but the broader reflection is that after four long and hard decades fighting tobacco companies and their ubiquitous marketing — what have we learned? The lessons from the field tell us that quitting smoking is hard. That quitting for the day with social support may help you quit for the next goal, perhaps until Thanksgiving. And that the underlying issue with every addiction is a release from stress.
My grandmother smoked for over 60 years. My mother smoked while I was growing up. My father still smokes. I truly understand how difficult it can be to break this habit despite knowing how harmful it is. Furthermore, how do we expect smokers to ask for support now that we live in a world of more technology and less face-to-face communications? The answer to the underlying question of how do we best offer support is simple for me: by allowing the individual to self-monitor without judgement. We must provide support with no expectation of change. That is the Franciscan (St. Francis College) way, and the model I learned early in my career as a health educator. There is no religious implication here, but rather the concept of personal motivation as the guide for all.