Nassau County Department of Health Announces New Tobacco Cessation Program

Since the reduction of tobacco use is one of the goals of the Nassau County Department of Health, the Health Department will add a tobacco cessation workshop to its current tobacco control programs.

Beginning in June, the tobacco cessation program, B.E.A.T. (Be Empowered Against Tobacco), will be available at no cost to all residents of Nassau County aged 18 and over.

B.E.A.T. workshops will be conducted throughout Nassau County and will consist of five or six one-hour sessions. These workshops will be available weekdays and evenings and will utilize proven strategies that help individuals quit smoking.

B.E.A.T. will be the third prong of a three-prong approach to tobacco cessation developed by the Nassau County Department of Health.

Smoking prevention activities are conducted in grades 3 through 12 throughout the County. These sessions are designed to reach children and young adults before they begin to smoke or before smoking becomes a habit. Approximately 30,000 students have been reached over the last 10 years.

Since 1995, the Health Department has been highly successful in enforcing the Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act (ATUPA), which monitors tobacco merchants to insure that they are in compliance with the law and do not sell tobacco products to minors. Since this program began, compliance has increased from 46% to 90%.