DPH backs Tri-Town's anti-tobacco efforts

An established countywide effort to eradicate tobacco use has received a seven-year state grant to help adults quit smoking and keep youths from starting the addictive habit.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has awarded $37,900 to the local tobacco awareness program for the current fiscal year, which started July 1 and runs through June 30, 2012. The grant amounts for the remaining six fiscal years are subject to appropriation by the state Legislature, according to Tri-Town Health Department director James J. Wilusz.

The state has financially supported the tobacco awareness program since 1994, but Tri-Town has gradually received reduced funding the past several years. The current $37,900 award is down from the $53,000 for fiscal 2011 that ran out June 30.

Nevertheless, Wilusz vows the local program will boost its effort to ensure tobacco users have access to effective cessation programs.

"Seventy-seven percent of adults who smoke across the state want to quit and 66 percent have tried to quit," he said.

Tri-Town, the primary public health agency for Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge, has administered the anti-tobacco campaign for nearly 20 years. It also serves nine other communities: Dalton, Egremont, Great Barrington, Hancock, Monterey, Sandisfield, Otis, North Adams and Pittsfield.