Tobacco.org

• Tobacco use among sexual minorities, USA, 1987-2007 (May): A Systematic Review 

CONCLUSION

Increased attention to smoking among sexual minority populations is warranted in clinical practice and in the creation of prevention and treatment programs. In examining the ample evidence of disparities in suicidal ideation among sexual minority adolescents, Morrison and L'Heureux noted that the “[p]revention of GLBQ [gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer] adolescent suicide thus could entail treating the environments that interface with GLBQ youth in addition to treating the adolescents themselves.”[87] The same may well be true for elevated prevalence of smoking among sexual minorities. Moreover, there are specific evidence-based steps that can be taken to reduce the impact of smoking on sexual minority communities.

Prevalence could be assessed and monitored through Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance Surveys, Youth Tobacco Surveys, Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance Surveys, and Adult Tobacco Surveys. Many states, however, do not include sexual orientation, thus hindering monitoring efforts despite the fact that sampling methodology has been crucial in researchers’ understanding of gay and lesbian health and wellbeing.[88] Population-based interventions like increasing taxes on tobacco products and banning advertising should be combined with approaches that seek to reduce disparities in vulnerable populations.[9] These might include social marketing efforts, mass media campaigns in the gay and lesbian press, community recognition of tobacco as a problem,[89, 90] extra efforts for smoke-free gay and lesbian venues, targeted cessation services,[91] community rejection of tobacco industry sponsorship of events, and ongoing collaboration with the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network (http://www.lgbttobacco.org/). Given the leitmotiv of smoking as a health inequality in sexual minorities’ lives, local, state, and federal tobacco programs should target LGBT populations in tobacco prevention and cessation interventions and include priority population indicators in the evaluation of program outcomes.

. . .

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS?

• There is compelling evidence that an elevated prevalence of tobacco use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual men and women exists.

• National and state surveillance systems should incorporate sexual minority status to monitor the elevated use of tobacco by gays and lesbians.

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Our Thoughts About Gay Traveling 

Smoking is also a huge issue on why gays are not going to bars anymore. In many cities and states they now have non-smoking ordinances for bars however there are still dozens of cites where you are subjected to smoke when going to a bar. And where smoking is allowed, even the bartenders smoke! Gays have just stopped going to smoking bars for that reason. Who wants to go home reeking of smoke night after night? Brand new bars that offer a nice clean atmosphere attracts both gays and straights. Actually we meet in a lot of gays in our travels who have completely stopped going to gay bars.

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LETTERS: Barack Obama's Smoking  

Regarding Michael Kinsley's Nov. 20 op-ed column, "Let the Guy Smoke":

President-elect Barack Obama's campaign agenda included universal health care, and we all know that smoking is a serious health hazard. If Mr. Obama has not quit smoking yet, he should keep trying until he succeeds. He needs to make this sacrifice.

What about the District's ban on smoking in public buildings? As a leader, Mr. Obama must abide by this rule, like everyone else, no matter how inconvenient it is to leave the building each time he wants to smoke. If he does not, he will be endangering the health of his daughters, his wife and all the people working in White House.

So, Mr. Obama, give the world another example of making something almost impossible possible.

RYAN: Getting Physical: Kicking butts -- gays and smoking 

Here's a trick question: What's the most dangerous health problem facing gay men?

No, it's not HIV/AIDS -- it's smoking. Diseases related to tobacco use kill more gays than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murder and street drugs combined. We're talking about more than 30,000 gays and lesbians a year, according to the American Cancer Society. This estimate is actually highly conservative, because it supposes that gays smoke in amounts equal to members of the general population.

Well, they don't. A recent study found that 36 percent of LGBT adults smoke. That's compared with 25 percent of all adults. This stark difference exists notwithstanding the fact that gays are significantly more likely than straights to believe smoking increases their risk of lung cancer and heart disease, and that it is likely to shorten their lifespan. . . .

The typical answers are that the tobacco industry is to blame for marketing to gays, that gays spend a lot of time in smoky bars where they use cigarettes as a way to meet one another ("Got a light?"), and that they smoke to alleviate depression and feelings of alienation related to their sexuality.

There is truth to all of these assertions, even if they don't make up the full picture. . . .

In his genius pop-psychology work, "The Tipping Point," New Yorker writer Malcom Gladwell writes about the addictive nature of smoking and provides some complex answers that apply quite neatly to the gay community.

Gladwell compares smoking to a kind of speech. By virtue of smoking, one man gives another the tacit approval to commit his own act of suicide. The other man follows suit because he wants to be cool. Because, Gladwell writes, "Smoking was never cool. Smokers are cool."

Need I say more about the gay community's desperate desire to be cool? . . .

OK, so now that we've gone though the reasons why gays smoke and realized how impossible it is to pick all of them apart and prevent smoking altogether, the power to quit, of course, remains in the hands of each smoker.

Without sounding too preachy (too late, I know), don't just throw in the towel on your life. Even if you quit smoking in middle age, you can still cut in half your risk of an early death. For more information on quitting smoking, visit www.smokefree.gov.

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Pharmacies: Mobilizing to Remove Tobacco Products from Drug Stores  

Findings for prohibiting pharmacies from selling tobacco products.

1. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States[1] and the leading risk factor contributing to the burden of disease in the world’s high income countries[2]; . . .

9. The Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee for California, as well as the American Pharmacists Association, the California Pharmacists Association, and the California Medical Association have called for the adoption of state and local prohibitions of tobacco sales in drug stores and pharmacies[13];

. . .

14. Only 13.2% of chain drugstore pharmacists are in favor of tobacco products being sold in drugstores[19];

15. In a 2003-2004 national survey of pharmacy students, only 3.5% were in favor of tobacco sales in pharmacies. These findings were aligned with the 2003 resolution of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy that encourages pharmacy schools to use only experiential sites that do not sell tobacco product[20]; and

16. Pharmacies and drugstores are among the most accessible and trusted sources of health information among the public.

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$50,000 in grants given to curb smoking among gays 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The state Division of Tobacco Prevention has distributed $100,000 in grants for programs designed to curb smoking in the gay community.

Covenant House and Bluefield State College each received a $50,000 grant this week to help gay people stop smoking and using chewing tobacco in central and Southern West Virginia.

Recent studies have shown that gays are about twice as likely to smoke . . .

"HIV isn't our biggest health threat; it's tobacco," said Jeff Crist, development director at Covenant House, a Charleston nonprofit.

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10 Myths About Smoking  

More than a quarter of the female population currently smoke, with numerous studies showing that a higher percentage of gays than straights are still stuck on the weed - possibly as many as one in three. That should mean that around 66 per cent of dykes are non-smokers.

Yet at least 80 per cent of the women joining the lesbian introduction agency, The Circle, say they will not even consider meeting up with a smoker.

Until recently, I was a militant smoker. But since the end of last December, not only have I not smoked a cigarette: I haven`t even wanted one. Here`s the un-brainwashing I had to do first:

Myth no. 1: Giving up is difficult. . . .

Myth no. 2: Smoking is enjoyable.

As Allen Carr, author of ‘The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently’ (ISBN 0-14-024475-1), said: "Eating lobster is enjoyable, but I don`t need to go around with 40 hung around my neck every day." . . .

Myth no. 10: I`ve kicked the habit so I can have just one or two now and then and not get hooked again.

Cigarette smoking is an addiction, not a habit, so it will never be possible for a quitter to have just one or two. They will soon be back on the treadmill.

But the point is, why would you want one or two? If you`ve understood the points I`ve been making, you`d rather stick needles in your eye!

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• More Smokers Seek Help With Quitting Since Latest Cigarette Tax Took Effect  

"It's another vice I have to give up to survive, not only health-wise, but financially," explained Mr. Alderman, 58, who said he lives in a single-room-occupancy building in Times Square and depends on federal disability payments and food stamps.

Clients like Mr. Alderman at smoking-cessation programs around the city have been citing the $1.25 tax increase that took effect June 3 as their motivation for quitting, and several programs have seen their numbers balloon in the weeks since.

Tax increases are the most effective measure known to reduce demand for tobacco, according to reports published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and The British Medical Journal. Young people and poor people are most responsive to price changes, the research shows.

Requests to New York City's 311 line for advice on quitting tripled during the week of June 2, with 2,700 calls this year compared with 850 calls during the same period in 2007. Calls to the New York State Smokers' Quitline -- including those transferred from 311 -- quadrupled, to 9,750 from 2,295 a year ago.

"It was a huge surge," . . .

"Many people need a more sustained effort," said Barbara Warren, the director for research and planning at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Manhattan, where she started a smoking-cessation program in 1994. "The quitline is an essential part of the continuum. But it demands a certain degree of self-direction and follow-through. Other people need more than that."

Dr. Warren said community-based group programs that meet continuously for several weeks are more successful

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Owner fears smoking ban would leave no Illusions 

If the city of Dallas bans smoking in bars, Eddie Bonner fears it would snuff out his four-year-old business.

Bonner, who owns the gay bar Illusions, said unlike other venues, he doesn’t have a patio or balcony where patrons could still light up if the proposed ban goes through. Bonner said there’s no room to build a patio on the property he rents for the bar on Maple Avenue in Oak Lawn, and he can’t afford to move Illusions to another location.

Bonner said if the ban goes through, his customers will opt for other bars where they can smoke in outdoor areas.

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• "If You Know You Exist, It's Just Marketing Poison": Meanings of Tobacco Industry Targeting in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community 

We conducted focus groups with LGBT individuals in 4 US cities to explore their perceptions. Our findings indicated that focus group participants often responded positively to tobacco company targeting.

Targeting connoted community visibility, legitimacy, and economic viability. Participants did not view tobacco as a gay health issue. Targeting is a key aspect of corporate-community interaction. A better understanding of targeting may aid public health efforts to counter corporate disease promotion.

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LETTER: It's all our fault 

If you think the folks up on Capitol Hill are mental midgets, well, then look in the mirror. You put them there.

Yes, these folks probably would reinstate slavery if they could and they are the same folks who are now debating a gay marriage ban. Yet they can't seem to get an anti-smoking bill passed.

My spouse and I have been married for 27 years (same sex) and neither you nor anyone else can take that away from us. However, you can tell me that I can't smoke in a public place.

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Health drive aims to get 19,000 off cigarettes by 2010  

PREGNANT women and youngsters will be targeted in a new drive aimed at helping 19,000 smokers in the Lothians quit by 2010.

NHS Lothian plans to spend £910,000 on stop-smoking teams and initiatives following an award of £8 million to health boards made by the Scottish Government to improve people's quality of life.

The Government has set the authority targets to reduce the proportion of over-16s who smoke to 22 per cent from 25 per cent, and the percentage of women who smoke during pregnancy from 23 in 2006 to 15 by 2010.

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Gays and lesbians urged to kick the habit 

Smoking rates among the gay and lesbian community in the UK are significantly higher than the general population, and this No Smoking Day we are being urged to give up the fags for good.

Around 40% of gays and lesbians smoke, as opposed to 23% of men and 24% of women in general population. . . .

Dan Tickle, chief executive of the charity No Smoking Day said:

"No Smoking Day is the ideal opportunity to quit smoking and significantly improve the quality of your life.

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Ohio health department to study tobacco habits of gay teens 

Ohio health officials will use a federal grant aimed at preventing tobacco use among minorities to study why gay and lesbian teenagers smoke at a higher rate than their straight peers.

Health officials are allocating $60,000 to identify the smoking habits of those teens and develop a tobacco-prevention campaign for them.

Ohio Department of Health spokesman Kristopher Weiss says gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community has a smoking rate at about 40 to 60%.

As part of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Community Youth and Young Adults Anti-Tobacco Social Marketing Project, officials will form focus groups among youths ages 12 through 20

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Tavern Guild abstains from smoking fight 

Dallas Tavern Guild officials plan to stay out of the fray if the City Council pursues a proposal to extend the city's smoking ban to nightclubs, according to a group official.

"The Tavern Guild is not taking a stand as an organization," said Michael Doughman, executive director of the gay and lesbian bar association. "We decided that was not something the Tavern Guild could do as a blanket statement. We're leaving that to the individual bars as to how they stand." . . .

Some local bar owners report that many of their customers complain about being subjected to second-hand smoke by other customers They also acknowledge that if smoking was banned in nightclubs, the costs of air purification and cleaning would decrease.

The ruckus in 2003 led to the gay and lesbian bar association adopting a new policy when it comes to divisive issues like smoking, Doughman said.

"When we supported Mayor Miller originally and took that stand for her, some of our members were not happy," Doughman said. "They did not feel that they were fairly represented, so we just made a policy that on those kind of decisions it would be up to individual clubs how they feel about it."

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