NKY smoking rates continue to be concern for health officials

Northern Kentucky streets and sidewalks are consistently littered with discarded cigarette butts. The volume of smokers in Kentucky ranks the state as third in the nation, and Northern Kentucky contributes heavily to that.

Twenty-seven percent of Kenton County residents use cigarettes, including high school and middle school students.

“We have a long rich history of growing tobacco in Kentucky. Even though that’s not the number-one crop in Kentucky, the historical knowledge and influence that it has had is still very prevalent for us today,” said Stephanie Vogle, Director of Population Health for the Northern Kentucky Health Department. “We hear about people being sent to college from their parents growing tobacco. They may still have plots of tobacco. You have that particular piece that plays quite a bit into why we in this region smoke more.”

Campaigns against smoking, citing the serious health risks associated with cigarettes, are ubiquitous. Here, the Northern Kentucky Health Department has teamed up with other like-minded organizations to form the Tobacco Prevention Coalition of Northern Kentucky.

Read the full River City News story here.