The Coalition welcomes representation from schools, work-sites, community agencies and health care providers. Coalition members plan, coordinate and implement prevention, cessation, media and policy-related activities directed at reducing tobacco use. Community members then are involved in solving their own health problems and become more competent to resolve other issues. Tobacco kills 400,000 Americans each year, claiming more victims than AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, homicide, fire, automobile accidents and suicide combined.
Cigarette smoking can even kill people who have never smoked a single cigarette.
One study shows that 50,000 nonsmokers die of heart disease and cancer each year from breathing second hand smoke. And, employers have been held legally responsible for at least part of the disability costs for employees who have contracted smoking-related illnesses. This is in addition to claims from non-smoking employees affected by second hand smoke. Most people who start smoking assume they can stop whenever they want. But nicotine, the addictive substance in cigarettes, can make smoking even harder to quit than heroin.