Borough President James Oddo is pleased to announce a partnership between his office and Truth Initiative, a national public health organization that is inspiring tobacco-free lives and building a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco, to bring their evidence-based program, This is Quitting, to Staten Island.
This innovative text message program was created with input from teens, college students and young adults who have attempted to, or successfully quit, e-cigarettes. It is designed to help teens and young adults quit using e-cigarettes and other vaping devices, such as JUUL, with free, confidential, and non-judgmental texts consisting of tips, advice, and inspiration to quit or help a loved one quit. This is Quitting’s text messages are tailored by age group—for teens, young adults, and parents—to give appropriate recommendations about quitting and nicotine replacement therapy. To join the program (regardless of age group): text QUIT to (718) 306-6608.
Upon enrolling in the program, users may set a quit date by texting in the desired date. They receive one support text per day for a week prior to and 30 days after their set quit date. Users can receive on-demand support for cravings, stress, and slips in addition to their scheduled interactive messages. If someone is looking to end their relationship with e-cigarettes or vaping but is not yet ready to set a quit date, the program will still send two weeks of messages to help the user become more confident and prepared to take the next steps to quit.
Parents looking for support will receive up to 21 days of messages that include tips and information to help their kids quit JUUL or other e-cigarettes. Parents can also receive on-demand support for stress management in addition to the scheduled interactive messages.
“Despite years of efforts by many well-intentioned folks, many Staten Islanders still smoke cigarettes, and the use of e-cigarettes is alarmingly on the rise among our youth,” said Borough President Oddo. “So, while we can see vaping as a potential path to wean nicotine-addicted adults off cancer-causing cigarettes, we must do everything we can to prevent young folks from becoming addicted in the first place. I am grateful for this partnership with Truth Initiative so we can raise awareness on Staten Island of the risks of vaping and offer an easily accessible program to young people who are looking to quit.”
The 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey from the FDA and the CDC showed e-cigarette use increased by 78 percent among high schoolers and increased by 48 percent among middle schoolers in just one year. According to the CDC, 14.5 percent of New York State high school students in 2017 used e-cigarettes and 4.6 percent used smokeless tobacco on at least one day in the past 30 days. Comparatively, 5.5 percent of high school students smoked cigarettes on at least one day in the past 30 days. Nationally, the rates were 13.2 percent, 5.5 percent, and 8.8 percent, respectively.
“More than 3.6 million youth who use e-cigarettes are now vulnerable to long-term nicotine addiction and those new young e-cigarette users, most of whom weren’t smokers in the first place, are four times more likely to go on to smoke deadly cigarettes compared to their peers who don’t vape. This new e-cigarette program provides the much-needed tools to quit vaping before it has the chance to progress into smoking,” said Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative.
About Truth Initiative: Truth Initiative is a national public health organization that is inspiring tobacco-free lives and building a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco. The truth about tobacco and the tobacco industry are at the heart of our proven-effective and nationally recognized truth public-education campaign, our rigorous and scientific research and policy studies, and our innovative community and youth engagement programs supporting populations at high risk of using tobacco. The Washington, D.C. -based organization, formerly known as Legacy, was established and funded through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. To learn more about how Truth Initiative speaks, seeks and spreads the truth about tobacco, visit truthinitiative.org.
About This is Quitting: This is Quitting (TIQ) is a mobile app designed by Truth Initiative to help young people quit with inspiration from others like them. It is one of the few publicly available resources designed specifically for young adult tobacco users. TIQ is freely available on Android and iOS to users over 17, with a companion text message program available to users ages 13 and older. It includes a variety of unique features proven to engage young adults such as “challenges” to stay smoke-free in different circumstances and user-generated content aggregated from social media platforms. Users receive daily text messages tailored to their sign-up date or quit date and learn about nicotine replacement therapy in language that speaks to them.
This innovative text message program was created with input from teens, college students and young adults who have attempted to, or successfully quit, e-cigarettes. It is designed to help teens and young adults quit using e-cigarettes and other vaping devices, such as JUUL, with free, confidential, and non-judgmental texts consisting of tips, advice, and inspiration to quit or help a loved one quit. This is Quitting’s text messages are tailored by age group—for teens, young adults, and parents—to give appropriate recommendations about quitting and nicotine replacement therapy. To join the program (regardless of age group): text QUIT to (718) 306-6608.
Upon enrolling in the program, users may set a quit date by texting in the desired date. They receive one support text per day for a week prior to and 30 days after their set quit date. Users can receive on-demand support for cravings, stress, and slips in addition to their scheduled interactive messages. If someone is looking to end their relationship with e-cigarettes or vaping but is not yet ready to set a quit date, the program will still send two weeks of messages to help the user become more confident and prepared to take the next steps to quit.
Parents looking for support will receive up to 21 days of messages that include tips and information to help their kids quit JUUL or other e-cigarettes. Parents can also receive on-demand support for stress management in addition to the scheduled interactive messages.
“Despite years of efforts by many well-intentioned folks, many Staten Islanders still smoke cigarettes, and the use of e-cigarettes is alarmingly on the rise among our youth,” said Borough President Oddo. “So, while we can see vaping as a potential path to wean nicotine-addicted adults off cancer-causing cigarettes, we must do everything we can to prevent young folks from becoming addicted in the first place. I am grateful for this partnership with Truth Initiative so we can raise awareness on Staten Island of the risks of vaping and offer an easily accessible program to young people who are looking to quit.”
The 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey from the FDA and the CDC showed e-cigarette use increased by 78 percent among high schoolers and increased by 48 percent among middle schoolers in just one year. According to the CDC, 14.5 percent of New York State high school students in 2017 used e-cigarettes and 4.6 percent used smokeless tobacco on at least one day in the past 30 days. Comparatively, 5.5 percent of high school students smoked cigarettes on at least one day in the past 30 days. Nationally, the rates were 13.2 percent, 5.5 percent, and 8.8 percent, respectively.
“More than 3.6 million youth who use e-cigarettes are now vulnerable to long-term nicotine addiction and those new young e-cigarette users, most of whom weren’t smokers in the first place, are four times more likely to go on to smoke deadly cigarettes compared to their peers who don’t vape. This new e-cigarette program provides the much-needed tools to quit vaping before it has the chance to progress into smoking,” said Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative.
About Truth Initiative: Truth Initiative is a national public health organization that is inspiring tobacco-free lives and building a culture where all youth and young adults reject tobacco. The truth about tobacco and the tobacco industry are at the heart of our proven-effective and nationally recognized truth public-education campaign, our rigorous and scientific research and policy studies, and our innovative community and youth engagement programs supporting populations at high risk of using tobacco. The Washington, D.C. -based organization, formerly known as Legacy, was established and funded through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. To learn more about how Truth Initiative speaks, seeks and spreads the truth about tobacco, visit truthinitiative.org.
About This is Quitting: This is Quitting (TIQ) is a mobile app designed by Truth Initiative to help young people quit with inspiration from others like them. It is one of the few publicly available resources designed specifically for young adult tobacco users. TIQ is freely available on Android and iOS to users over 17, with a companion text message program available to users ages 13 and older. It includes a variety of unique features proven to engage young adults such as “challenges” to stay smoke-free in different circumstances and user-generated content aggregated from social media platforms. Users receive daily text messages tailored to their sign-up date or quit date and learn about nicotine replacement therapy in language that speaks to them.
