STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — Stanislaus County just got a failing grade from the American Lung Association for how they control tobacco, despite being in a state listed as one of the best in the nation for having policies that prevent and reduce tobacco use.
The report gave Stanislaus County a failing grade for their policies proven to prevent and reduce tobacco use. Some of the county's largest cities like Modesto, Turlock and Riverbank received "D" grades in the report, while most others received the lowest "F" grade.
"We could do better," Kamlesh Caur, a health educator from Stanislaus County's Tobacco Prevention Program said.
Caur says there are quite a few factors that go into this and, traditionally, it's been harder to pass policies about smoking on the city and county level compared to the state.
"It kind of gets personal at local level like that," Caur explained. "So that's what makes it harder for us to pass a policy, unless they realize that it's really happening in their neighborhood or their backyard."
One of the reasons why Stanislaus County is seeing such a low grade is because not all city parks within county lines are smoke free. And it doesn't end there. Most of the county is missing what's called a tobacco retailer policy.
The policy would allow cities to enforce local retailer laws easier by having inspectors check to see if stores are abiding by local tobacco laws.
Riverbank is the only part of the county that recently passed this policy. Meaning, they were the only city in the county to get an 'A' for "reducing sales of tobacco products."
To improve these failing grades, the county says they need better policies, but it's a work in progress.
"We do have our own team members who are working on these different areas. We're working especially in Stanislaus County," Caur said. "We're all working on smoke-free parks, smoke-free multi-unit housing and in the retail area, we're trying to make a difference there too."
To see how your city fared in the report, click here.
Continue the conversation with Lena on Facebook.
________________________________________________________________
The collection started in the mid-1990's. After retiring as Oroville’s Postmaster, Dean Lantrip went on a nationwide tour to collect and preserve any and all relics of tobacco’s past.
