Tobacco Free North Dakota urges continued funding for youth prevention, cessation and media outreach

Heather Austin, executive director of Tobacco Free North Dakota, told the House Appropriations Human Resources Division that the group's mission is to reduce tobacco and nicotine use and its health impacts across the state and urged continued sustainable funding for the state tobacco prevention and control program included in House Bill 1012.

Austin described work to address youth vaping and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including a train-the-trainer program, webinars, an online resource hub and a new partnership with the national Truth Initiative to provide a text-to-quit program for youth and young adults called This Is Quitting. She said the program targets ages 13–24 and provides 12 weeks of interactive, tailored text messages to support quitting.

Austin opposed a proposed cut to the tobacco prevention and control media line item that committee materials showed as approximately a $500,000 reduction from an overall roughly $1.6 million media budget, and she recommended the committee preserve the media investment to retain recent progress in youth prevention and cessation messaging.

Austin also alerted the committee that electronic-vaping-related lung injury (EVALI) tracking diminished during the COVID era and that recent Vermont data show such incidents continue to occur, making prevention and surveillance relevant. In response to committee questions she said Tobacco Free North Dakota is willing to work on state-level labeling and packaging proposals but noted national regulatory uncertainty and industry litigation complicate near-term federal changes.

Ending: Austin asked the committee to sustain prevention and cessation funding and the media line item in HB1012 and offered to work with legislators on state-level policy options for labeling, packaging and youth access restrictions.