Tobacco-prevention programs never get old because there's always a new generation faced with pressure to start smoking, one local prevention expert said.

"You can't let the guard down; you've got to keep up on it, because it's important," said Burke Eilers, director of the Western Prevention Resource Center and member of the Rapid City Tobacco Free Coalition. "There's always a new generation, and you just have to keep the momentum going."

One new factor in the local momentum to curb youth tobacco use has come in the form of new grants from the South Dakota Department of Health.

Fifty-five K-12 school districts are recent recipients of grants totaling nearly $460,000 from the department to combat tobacco use. The funding is aimed at helping schools improve and promote tobacco control. Tobacco is the state's leading cause of preventable death.

"We know that each year in South Dakota, 1,300 kids aged 12-17 become daily smokers," Gail Gray, director of health and medical services for the state Health Department, said. "We hope that these grant funds will prevent a generation of South Dakota children from developing a lifelong addiction to tobacco."

The grant awards are funded by Initiated Measure 2, passed by voters in 2006. The ballot measure increased the tax on tobacco products and allocated funds to the Department of Health for tobacco prevention; $1.7 million for community and school programming, $2.17 million for tobacco cessation, and $1.13 million for public education, surveillance and administration.

Gray said it costs more to use tobacco now, and people will keep their eyes on where their money is going.

"I think people will look to see if (the grant money) makes a difference, and we think it will," she said.

It's a first for the grants, but tobacco-prevention programs in local schools are not. They have long been part of a statewide strategy to reduce tobacco use by South Dakota youths, Eilers said.

"The schools have to keep pounding at it," he said. "Good curriculum is out there, and it has a proven success rate."

The Department of Health funds may be used to enhance school districts' tobacco-free policies as well as implementing tobacco-prevention programs throughout the districts. Additionally, the grants encourage school districts to implement evidence-based tobacco-prevention curriculum.

Public, tribal and private school districts with an enrollment of at least 100 fulltime students in 2006 were offered grants. School districts with fewer than 100 students may still receive free evidence-based tobacco-prevention curriculum.

The Rapid City Area School District received $60,000 in grant money, half of which has already been given. The other half will be awarded in the new year, said Pam Teaney Thomas of the Rapid City Area Schools Youth Development Office.

She said this year will be about planning.

"It's in the planning stage of how we would develop tobacco prevention using money," she said. "We've had a tobacco-prevention program all along, but this helps us intensify and enhance things we've been doing."

It helps with such priorities as adding to and updating the district's tobacco-prevention videos for the classroom, she said.

The money will not be used for any specific grade or age, she said, but for all students.

"I think there are different strategies to use for each of those particular age levels," she said.

The state is making headway, she said, but tobacco is still a major problem.

The statistic that 1,300 students between the ages 12 and 17 start using tobacco every year "is an issue in itself," she said.

According to the most recent statistics from the youth development office, the number of high school students who did not use tobacco during the in 2006-07 school year was 76.2 percent, which is an increase from the 2005-06 year, which was 69.2 percent.

In middle school for the 2005-06 year, 91.7 percent of students said they had not used tobacco, and there was a small increase to 92.2 percent this year.

Teaney Thomas said through the surveys, she has also seen a change in what students know about tobacco.

"In one question, we ask, 'Do you believe if you only use tobacco once in a while, it won't harm health?' Kids are now seeing it does harm health. Before, the (thought) was, 'What's one cigarette?'"

She said she expects the grant money to continue to improve the numbers.

"The tobacco grants help people focus even more on what they can do in helping encourage kids to make healthy choices," she said. "That's a positive sign."

K-12 schools are not the only institutions receiving money from the Department of Health.

Eleven post-secondary schools are receiving grants totaling $180,000 for the same reason: combating tobacco use. Opportunities for funding were offered to all South Dakota public, private and tribal post-secondary institutions.

Two post-secondary institutions in the state, Mount Marty College of Yankton and Oglala Lakota College of Kyle have implemented tobacco-free buildings and grounds. Oglala received a $25,000 grant, and Mount Marty received $20,000. The School of Mines & Technology received $12,500, and Western Dakota Technological Institute received $5,000.

" … Studies have shown that 18- to 24-year-olds have the highest smoking rate of any adult age group," Gray said in a prepared statement. "These grants are designed to equip schools with the tools to help stop those alarming trends."

Several community groups received money from the same initiative, Eilers said, including Rapid City Tobacco Free Coalition and coalitions in Lawrence County, Sturgis and Bell Fourche.

Eilers said the Rapid City Coalition is focusing some of its efforts this year on secondhand-smoke education.

"It's going after parents about secondhand smoke and the ramifications of it," he said.

Grey said the Department of Health is also focused on secondhand smoke, as well as other high-use groups including teens and young adults, people in a low-income bracket and Native Americans.

The Department of Health's Tobacco Control Program provides technical assistance and support to individuals, businesses, healthcare providers and educational institutions; offers funding and support to school districts, post-secondary institutions, and community coalitions; produces a statewide media campaign; operates of the state's tobacco QuitLine; and conducts surveillance and program evaluation.

Gray said efforts eventually pay off. According to the Department of Health, smoking in the state dropped from 27 percent to 20 percent this year.

"But 20 percent is still a large number," she said.

She said that 28 percent of high-schoolers are current smokers, and for those who try to quit, only 25 percent have succeeded after 12 months. Only five percent were successful if they tried "cold turkey."

Which is why there is such an effort to help people, she said.

"Quitting smoking is very hard," she said. "It's a chronic situation."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com