Maine Policies and Programs

How PTM Makes a Difference

With continued vigilance on the part of the PTM and all our partners, we are convinced that we can continue to save Maine lives from the grips of tobacco. The following are the policies and programs that are helping to make a difference in Maine.

Tobacco Treatment Programs

• Maine Tobacco HelpLine. The Maine Tobacco HelpLine offers toll-free telephone counseling to anyone in Maine who wants to quit using tobacco. In 2005, there were 15,526 calls to the HelpLine, more than in any previous year. Calls represented every county in the state, in proportion to the number of smokers in that county.
• Tobacco Treatment Medication Program. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) medications, such as the nicotine patch or gum, are available through the HelpLine and select community health centers and tobacco treatment specialists. The PTM Medication Voucher Program makes these medications available to tobacco users who don’t have prescription drug insurance or whose coverage doesn’t include NRTs.
• Training in Tobacco Treatment: Healthcare Providers and Other Healthcare and Social Service Professionals. Across Maine, regional trainings teach health, school, and social service professionals best practices in the delivery of brief interventions and treatments for tobacco dependence. Participants learn how to assess a tobacco user’s readiness to change, deliver stage-appropriate interventions and support, and assist in creating a plan to quit.
• Local Funding. The PTM provides funding to 28 local Healthy Maine Partnerships across the state working to reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related chronic diseases.

Counter-Marketing and Public Awareness

• Wherever You Live and Breathe Campaign. A TV and radio campaign educating adults about the dangers of secondhand smoke around children.
• “Got A Minute?” campaign. A social marketing campaign prepared for state and local tobacco-use prevention and control programs by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Tobacco Never Quits. A TV campaign that features information about how the tobacco industry targets 18-year-olds and college students.
• Health Effects TV Campaign. Public education media messaging featuring graphically illustrated consequences of smoking.
• Don’t Get Me Started TV Campaign. TV messages featuring teen smokers talking in their own words about the reality of their tobacco addiction.

Find out more about PTM’s Counter-Marketing Efforts.

Community Programs

• Youth Advocacy Program. The Youth Advocacy Program (YAP) harnesses the powerful influence of peer pressure in a positive way. YAPs help youth reduce and prevent tobacco use among their peers and empower them with the skills that they need to create a healthy community by learning how to advocate for change.
• The Tobacco-Free Community Recreation Program. This program was created to provide local health advocates, municipal officials, recreation department board members, and recreation staff with the tools to develop comprehensive tobacco-free policies for local recreation programs.
• Tobacco-Free Athletes. This community program for school-age children leverages a coach’s influence with players to counter messages from the tobacco industry.

PTM works closely with Maine’s Healthy Maine Partnership communities across the state on local outreach prevention and control programs. For more information, visit Healthy Maine Partnerships.

Enforcement Programs

• NO BUTS! NO BUTS! provides retailers with the tools and training they need to more effectively block underage tobacco sales by reminding employers, managers, and employees about fines and penalties for selling tobacco to underage consumers, and provides incentives to stores who reduce tobacco marketing signage.

School Programs

• The School Policy Initiative. The School Policy Initiative helps Maine schools create and maintain campuses that are 100% tobacco-free.
• The LifeSkills Training Program. This is an exciting school program developed to prevent substance abuse, including tobacco, among middle school students. It incorporates general life skills to promote happy, healthy, successful lives.

Evaluation

PTM is committed to evaluating every program and initiative it undertakes so that accurate and up-to-date information can be provided on a timely basis to policy makers and state legislators. Routine evaluation for effectiveness and impact enables PTM to maximize program performance and aids in day-to-day decision-making.

Smoke-Free Policies

All indoor public places in Maine are free from secondhand smoke. See Breathe Easy for more information.

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