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Hawai‘i
Tobacco Plan 2030
The Tobacco Prevention and Control (TPC) Plan 2030 is Hawaiʻi’s ten-year strategic plan for achieving a tobacco-free state and provides guidance for tobacco prevention, education, and cessation services through program implementation, legislative action, and community empowerment.
Over the past decade, there have been significant changes in Hawaiʻi’s tobacco prevention and control landscape. Combustible tobacco prevalence and youth initiation rates declined, quit attempts increased, and influences of cigarette marketing on youth decreased. Hawaiʻi has among the highest cigarette excise tax and rate of retail compliance to laws prohibiting underage tobacco sales in the nation. Numerous legislative actions around secondhand smoke protection, youth access to tobacco, and limitations on the age of sale and use of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, have been enacted.
Vision: A Hawaiʻi free from tobacco use, nicotine addiction, and exposure to secondhand smoke.
Goals: The tobacco prevention and control community of Hawaiʻi adopted the four main goals developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to guide comprehensive tobacco control programs:
- Identify and eliminate tobacco-related disparities.
- Prevent initiation of commercial tobacco use among youth and young adults.
- Promote quitting tobacco among young people and adults.
- Eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.
Tobacco Priority Populations
- Native Hawaiians
- Youth
- LGBT
- Low Socioeconomic Status
- Behavioral Health Conditions
Smoking continues to disproportionately affect Hawaiʻi’s vulnerable populations and community groups by race and ethnicity, income and education, mental health and substance use, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) orientation. The rapid rise in youth use of e-cigarettes and other novel products has accelerated to epidemic proportions, threatening the cumulative efforts to protect the next generation from the deadly effects of nicotine addiction. Therefore, the major focus of the TPC Plan 2030 is the state’s most vulnerable communities, including youth and young adults.
The TPC Plan 2030 incorporates principles of the Social Ecological Model and is organized into four sector areas: Community Design and Access, Education, Health Care, and Worksite. The plan prioritizes goals, objectives, and strategies that lead to policy, systems, and environmental change. Objectives were developed using current data, best practices, and evidence-based science, and reflect one or more cross-cutting themes.
The TPC Plan 2030 is meant to be a living document that is reviewed and updated throughout the plan’s timeframe. Implementation of the plan will be a collective effort by individuals and organizations across the state.
Hawai‘i
Tobacco Plan 2030 Objectives
Community Design & Access Sector Objectives
Community Design & Access Sector
TOBACCO - 01
MET
Enact at least ten county or state policies to decrease access to all tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices or other novel, emerging tobacco products.
Strategies
- Establish regulatory parity for cigarettes, electronic smoking devices (ESDs), and emerging products, etc (e.g. impose taxes, licensing/permitting/restricting online sales, etc)
- Prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products including menthol
Baseline :
0 *Previous Target : 5 New Target : 10
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
5
Date Met :
05/27/2025*
Community Design & Access Sector
TOBACCO - 02
Establish at least two more statewide policies that increase access to cessation services.
Strategies
- Establish a MedQUEST policy that requires health plans to offer expanded evidence-based cessation service options
- Establish a policy to formally coordinate services between the Hawaiʻi Tobacco Quitline (HTQL), community cessation providers, and a private or public insurance provider to promote access to services to consumers
- Establish a policy that requires insurance companies to expand reimbursement for youth cessation
Baseline :
0 Target : 2
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Community Design & Access Sector
TOBACCO - 03
Establish at least two more county or state policies that eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.
Strategies
- Enact a smoke-free multi-unit housing ordinance in all four major counties
- Establish policies that increase resources for smoke-free policy enforcement (at parks, beaches, public housing, etc)
Baseline :
0 Target : 2
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Community Design & Access Sector
TOBACCO - 13
Conduct at least five (5) more educational campaigns utilizing a coordinated mix of media channels to de-normalize the use of tobacco and nicotine products
Strategies
Engage young adults who use electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) or other nicotine products and who perceive them as low-risk or harmless.
Baseline :
0 Target : 5
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Activities
- Implement health communication campaigns to support the cessation journeys of young adults who were exposed to ENDS before age 21 .
- Increase awareness, knowledge, and adoption of healthier behaviors among young adult ENDS and nicotine users, including emerging products .
- Provide tailored cessation education for young adults exposed to ENDS and other nicotine products
Community Design & Access Sector
TOBACCO - 14
Implement at least one new program to ensure enforcement of all exisiting federal, state, and local policies to decrease access to all tobacco products, including ENDS or other novel, emerging tobacco products
Strategies
Reduce prohibited online sales and improper handling of all ENDS products by enforcing Hawai‘i and federal laws and regulations.
Baseline :
Target : 1
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Activities
Develop, implement and monitor an ENDS online sales enforcement program that encompasses all relevant tobacco and nicotine products.
Education Sector Objectives
Education Sector
TOBACCO - 04
All colleges and universities in the State of Hawaiʻi will provide tobacco-free education and offer cessation services to their students, staff and faculty.
Strategies
- Provide tobacco prevention and cessation information at incoming student orientation sessions
- Support student health groups to conduct peer-led tobacco cessation and prevention promotion throughout all campuses
- Create linkages between community tobacco treatment specialists, the Hawaiʻi Tobacco Quitline and universities to tailor promotions to students and increase access to cessation services for young adults
Baseline :
Pending Target : All colleges and universities in Hawai'i
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
1
Education Sector
TOBACCO - 05
Develop and adopt at least one model policy in Department of Education schools that addresses youth vaping or tobacco offenses through behavioral interventions and supportive services.
Strategies
• Implement behavioral health interventions—such as My Life, My Quit, the Stanford Medicine Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, and the American Lung Association INDEPTH program—as supportive options for students who violate Department of Education school policies on tobacco use or possession.
Baseline :
0 Target : 1
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Education Sector
TOBACCO - 06
All colleges and universities in the State of Hawaiʻi will have a 100% smoke-free or tobacco-free campus policy.
Strategies
- Conduct outreach to universities and colleges without tobacco-free policies to provide education and information about the benefits of implementing a tobacco-free campus
- Provide technical support to individual private colleges and universities to encourage adoption of tobacco-free campus polices
Baseline :
Pending Target : All colleges and universities in Hawai'i
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
15
Education Sector
TOBACCO - 07
Conduct at least ten more educational campaigns for parents or adult influencers of youth to provide information about tobacco/vaping prevention or cessation statewide.
Strategies
- Develop culturally appropriate educational campaigns for use in school systems such as, the "Hawaiʻi Association of Independent Schools" and "Hawaiʻi State Department of Education"
- Develop education campaigns that can be used in a variety of media types (radio, television, mall ads, social media, etc)
Baseline :
0 Target : 10
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
3
Education Sector
TOBACCO - 15
Conduct at least one educational campaign for parents and adult influencers of elementary grade level children to provide information about vaping prevention.
Strategies
Develop culturally and linguistically appropriate education campaigns using preferred media formats for parents and adult influencers of elementary level children.
Baseline :
Target : 1
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Activities
- Conduct formative assessment(s) within communities to develop culturally appropriate campaign resources for parents of elementary school children, especially in households and communities where English is not the primary language.
- Procure language translation and graphics services to create culturally and linguistically appropriate educational materials for parents and adult influencers.
- Disseminate culturally adapted, value-based messaging through paid and earned media outlets.
Health Care Sector Objectives
Health Care Sector
TOBACCO - 08
MET
Implement at least ten health systems change policies or projects for tobacco cessation per the Clinical Practice Guidelines and Million Hearts Tobacco Cessation Change Package.
Strategies
- Integrate assessment, referral, and treatment interventions for tobacco/ nicotine use in routine care in health care systems using electronic health records.
- Provide staff and clinician education about cessation services to increase referral to treatment after identifying patients with tobacco/nicotine addiction.
Baseline :
0 *Previous Target : 5 New Target : 10
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
5
Date Met :
12/06/2024*
Health Care Sector
TOBACCO - 09
Integrate brief intervention education into at least five more health professional training programs as a graduation requirement, and into at least two health specialty organizations (e.g. American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons, American Physical Therapy Association) as continuing education offerings.
Strategies
- Identify relevant "health professional training programs" - such as pharmacy, nursing, medicine, dental hygiene, respiratory therapists, psychology, and other related allied health programs, where brief intervention education can be incorporated
- Coordinate brief intervention trainings with the behavioral health and substance use treatment communities
| Baseline | Target | Status Date- 07/01/2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional training programs | Pending | 5 | 2 |
| Health specialty organizations | Pending | 2 | 0 |
Health Care Sector
TOBACCO - 16
Implement at least two health systems change projects to promote clinician prevention, assessment, and treatment of ENDS use within the pediatric population.
Strategies
- Provide staff and clinician education on preventing, assessing, and treating ENDS use in pediatric populations, particularly elementary aged children.
- Integrate ENDS prevention and assessment into routine pediatric care using electronic health records within healthcare systems.
Baseline :
Target : 2
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Activities
- Procure a healthcare training vendor to retain American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)-recommended and credentialed trainer(s) to coordinate and implement clinician and staff education on pediatric ENDS prevention, assessment, and treatment.
- Engage major healthcare organizations to include younger pediatric patients into routine tobacco use assessment protocols through electronic healthcare records.
Worksite Sector Objectives
Worksite Sector
TOBACCO - 10
At least five more large employers (including the State and Counties) will offer health plans that promote tobacco treatment coverage per U.S. Preventive Task Force recommendations.
Strategies
- Engage unions to make changes to provide cessation coverage with no co-pay in insurance plans
- Facilitate employers' capacity to offer programs or insurance plans that incentivize cessation or offers cessation services with no co-pay
Baseline :
0 Target : 5
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
0
Worksite Sector
TOBACCO - 11
At least fifteen more worksites in the State of Hawaii will have 100% tobacco-free policies.
Strategies
- Develop and define criteria for 100% tobacco-free worksite campuses
- Develop tobacco-free campus policies for state and county departments
Baseline :
0 Target : 15
Status as of
07/01/2025 :
2
Worksite Sector
TOBACCO - 12
ASTHMA - 11
•
CANCER - 13
•
Diabetes - 07
•
Heart Disease and Stroke - 09
•
Physical activity and nutrition - 19
•
TOBACCO - 12
Implement a statewide, comprehensive worksite wellness recognition program that at least 10 very small-, 15 small-, 10 medium-, and 5 large-employers will participate in.
Strategies
• Identify partners and convene an advisory group to develop a Hawaiʻi-specific, evidence-based worksite wellness recognition program that includes the following areas:
o Asthma
o Cancer
o Diabetes
o Heart Disease and Stroke
o Physical Activity and Nutrition
o Tobacco
• Pilot the recognition program with a group of diverse employers and modify the program based on their feedback.
| Baseline | Target | Status Date- 07/01/2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very Small | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Small | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Medium | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Large | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Activities | Responsible Parties | Completed By |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Convene an advisory group to develop a Hawai‘i specific, comprehensive WSW recognition program that will include all aspects of health | HIPHI; AlohaCare; HMSA; Kaiser; UHA Health Insurance; DOH | 2024 |
| 2. Pilot recognition program with a group of diverse employers | HIPHI; AlohaCare; HMSA; Kaiser; UHA Health Insurance; DOH | 2025 |
| 3. Establish infrastructure for program at the DOH, statewide | DOH | 2025 |
Long-Term Measures & Trackers
The long-term measures are broad measures that help assess progress toward achieving the Healthy Hawaiʻi Vision 2030.