Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us (2001) From: kimro@crosslink.net  (Kim Buttery.) If you only read the executive summary it is worth reading. http://www.nap.edu/books/0309072735/html/

Item 2b From Phill Gioia **Here are some grant opportunities for improving communication and error reduction from the RW Johnson Foundation. "Pursuing Perfection" grant application is due in 2 weeks.
http://www.rwjf.org/app/rw_applying_for_a_grant/rw_app_main_set.html 

Item 3 Submitted by Joel Nitzkin
From: "Paul Billings" < pbillings@lungusadc.org > Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 9:44 AM
Subject: SG Report. This and other information on the Surgeon General's report are on www.cdc.gov/tobacco
The New Surgeon General's Report Highlights the Health Impact of Smoking Among U.S. Women and Girls The health gap between men and women who smoke has narrowed dramatically in the past 20 years in the United States, resulting in disturbing increases in smoking-related diseases among women. Since the first Surgeon General's report on women and smoking in 1980, nearly 3 million U.S. women have died prematurely from smoking, according to an updated and expanded report issued today. The new report calls for stronger national and local efforts, particularly from women's groups, to push for the implementation of proven solutions to reduce and prevent tobacco use among women and girls. The announcement came during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher released Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General.
    The report summarizes patterns of tobacco use among women, factors associated with starting and continuing to smoke, the health consequences of smoking, tobacco marketing targeted at women, and cessation and prevention interventions. "In the early decades smoking prevalence was more prominent among men, and it took nearly 25 years before the gap narrowed and smoking became commonplace among women," Dr. Satcher said. According to Dr. Satcher, lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. "Women not only share the same health risk as men, but are also faced with health consequences that are unique to women, including pregnancy complications, problems with menstrual function, and cervical cancer."
    Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson noted, "Clearly, smoking is a critical woman's issue that must be addressed at all fronts. Accelerating the decline in smoking rates and reducing the health impact of smoking among women is one of our most important and challenging public health opportunities. This report of the Surgeon General provides the prescription and the hope for stemming the epidemic of smoking among women, both nationally and globally." The report calls for increasing public awareness of the devastating impact of smoking on women's health; exposing and countering the tobacco industry's targeting of women; encouraging public health policymakers, educators, medical professionals, and women's organizations to work for policies and programs that deglamorize and discourage tobacco use; reducing disparities related to tobacco use and its health effects among different ethnic/racial populations; decreasing nonsmokers' exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; and mounting comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs proven to be effective in reducing and preventing tobacco use.
    Developed by HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to document the impact of smoking on women's health in the United States, the report also provides analyses of the global impact of smoking on women. "We estimate that smoking prevalence among women varies  markedly worldwide from as low as 7 percent in developing countries to 24 percent in developed countries," CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan said. "The rise in smoking among women around the world has coincided with aggressive Western-style tobacco advertising. One of the most common themes used in developing countries is that smoking is both a passport to and a symbol of a woman's emancipation, independence, and success." Dr. Koplan added, "We have firm evidence of a direct association between tobacco marketing and smoking prevalence. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission reported that cigarette companies spent $8.24 billion on advertising and promotions in 1999 in the United States, a 22.3 percent increase from the $6.73 billion spent in 1998. Fortunately, we have proven science-based evidence that counter-marketing strategies can be a powerful tool to change social norms. The CDC is committed to working globally to create a broad framework to curb the global epidemic of tobacco-related disease, particularly as it relates to women and young people." The report outlines key solutions for preventing and reducing smoking among women, including: Encouraging quitting for women of all ages. Quitting results in immediate health benefits for both light and heavy smokers, including improvements in breathing and circulation. The excess risk of coronary heart disease is substantially reduced after one or two years of smoking cessation. The increased risk for stroke associated with smoking is reversible after quitting smoking. When smokers quit, their lungs begin to heal and their risk of lung disease drops. Smoking cessation also improves quality of life and physical functioning. Implementing science-based smoking cessation interventions into widespread clinical practice. This action would be more cost-effective as other medical interventions such as mammography and blood pressure screening.
    Enacting comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs. Results from states such as Arizona, California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, and Oregon show that science-based tobacco control programs have successfully reduced smoking rates among women and girls. California is now starting to observe the dramatic public health benefits of its sustained efforts. Between 1988 and 1997, the incidence rate of lung cancer among women declined by 4.8 percent in California but increased by 13.2 percent in other regions of the United States . Encouraging a more vocal constituency on issues related to women and smoking. Concerted efforts are needed from women's and girls' organizations, women's magazines, public health policymakers, medical groups, and volunteer organizations to call public attention to lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases among women, and to call for policies and programs that deglamorize and discourage tobacco use. This effort should draw from the success of advocacy campaigns to reduce breast cancer. "Despite the overwhelming evidence of effective tobacco use intervention strategies, we clearly have a long way go to meet our public health objectives of cutting smoking in half among women and girls," Dr. Satcher said. "We know more than enough to prevent and reduce tobacco use. Now we must commit the attention and resources to translate this knowledge into action to save women's lives."
    A full copy the Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General and other related information is available on the CDC's Web site, Copies of the Executive Summary and the report's "At A Glance" can also be ordered via fax by calling 1-800-CDC-1311 or by writing the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, Mail Stop K-50, 4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3717. A special consumer-focused section on quitting smoking is now available on the National Women's Health Information Center Web site, sponsored by HHS's Office on Women's Health.
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protects people's health and safety by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries; enhances health decisions by providing credible information on critical health issues; and promotes healthy living through strong partnerships with local, national, and international organizations.