Nevada County has once again received a wide range of grades for tobacco control in this year’s report from the American Lung Association. The County gets a “C” for smokefree outdoor air policies passed by Grass Valley and Nevada City, compared to a “D” a year ago, and a “B” for California. Shelley Brantley, with the Association’s media relations department, says it’s not based on private regulations, which don’t affect as many residents, compared to a government ordinance…

click to listen to Shelley Brantley

But Brantley says Grass Valley and Nevada City still don’t have community-wide outdoor smoking bans at restaurants, public events, and worksites. However, the cities have exelled in passing policies in the last year minimizing smoking impacts near entryways…

click to listen to Shelley Brantley

Brantley says Grass Valley and Nevada City have also expanded outdoor smoking bans in recreation areas, including public parks. The county also got an “A”, for the second straight year, for reducing illegal sales of tobacco products. But it received an “F” again for having no citywide smoking bans in housing complexes. Meanwhile, California got failing grades in all other notable categories, including for insufficient funding of prevention programs, poor coverage of cessation and treatment services, and for low tobacco taxes. A measure going on the November ballot would raise the tax from 87 cents to 2 dollars. The tax hasn’t gone up since 1999 and ranks 35th out of the 50 states.

TOBACCO PREVENTION GRADES (version 2)