Iowa's youth-led tobacco use prevention program gives Iowa teens the true, unfiltered facts about the tobacco industry's marketing tactics and coordinates activities to fight industry efforts that try to entice youth into using tobacco.
The Division supports county-level, tobacco control programs, called Community Partnerships, with the goal of ensuring that all counties in Iowa have access to effective tobacco use prevention and cessation services. Community Partnerships maintain and collaborate with community coalitions which provide guidance and support for local tobacco control interventions and initiatives. Their activities include:
Click here to learn more about the Community Partnership in your area
Quitline Iowa is a toll-free, smoking cessation helpline. Trained coaches provide callers with assistance in making an individualized plan for quitting smoking or chewing tobacco, as well as on-going support through a series of optional follow-up calls. The Quitline offers both English and Spanish-speaking coaches, with additional languages available through a translation service. Services are also provided for the hearing impaired (TDD) by calling 1-877-777-6534.
Hours of Operation: 24 hours a day, seven days a week (closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Independence Day).
For more information on Quitline Iowa, please call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit the Web site at www.quitlineiowa.org.
The Iowa Department of Public Health is the primary agency responsible for enforcement of the Iowa Smokefree Air Act which prohibits smoking in enclosed workplaces and public places and some outdoor areas. The goal of the Department is to promote compliance with the law primarily through education-providing tens of thousands of employers, community organizations, governmental agencies, and the public with the information they need to assure compliance with the law. Information about the law, a copy of the law itself, site-specific fact sheets on how the law applies to those locations, along with sample signage, can be found at www.iowasmokefreeair.gov. Complaints on potential violations of the law can be submitted to the Department by utilizing the online complaint form found on the Smokefree Air Act Web site or by calling 1-888-944-2247. Complaints may be submitted confidentially or anonymously.
The Division is charged with the responsibility of enforcing state and federal (Synar) laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors. The Division contracts with the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) to perform tobacco compliance checks of Iowa's approximately 4,000 tobacco sales permit holders at least once a year. The contract with ABD also supports the Iowa Pledge Retailer Certification program which offers free training for retail sales clerks about the regulations that govern tobacco sales in Iowa and training on responsible sales techniques, such as how to identify false or altered IDs.
More information about tobacco retail sales regulation and enforcement, including monthly reports on compliance checks by county can be found at http://www.iowaabd.com/tobacco.
As required by the Iowa legislature and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Division evaluates and reports on the effectiveness of all its programs. The primary sources for data tracking progress in reducing tobacco use in Iowa are the biennial Adult Tobacco Survey and Youth Tobacco Survey. The Division contracts with the Center for Social and Behavioral Research at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) to conduct these surveys which provide detailed information about behaviors and attitudes toward tobacco use. Other sources of data about tobacco use to which the Division contributes resources include: the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the Iowa Youth Survey, and the School Climate Survey. The Division also contracts with UNI to prepare the required progress reports for the Iowa legislature.
Evaluation of specific programs and research on specific tobacco-related topics are also conducted by the Division. These include the Iowa Tobacco Cessation Program Evaluation, JEL Brand Evaluation & Development Research Findings, a survey of Smoking Policies at Food Serving Businesses in Iowa, and a study on the impact of Iowa Smokefree Air Act on revenues in the hospitality industry, among others.
Survey and study reports can be found on the Division web page.
