About BTC

The New York State Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Control (NYSDOH BTC) envisions a tobacco-free New York State. To alleviate the social and economic burdens caused by tobacco use, BTC administers the State’s Tobacco Control Program (TCP). Since 2000, the TCP has employed an evidence-based, policy-driven, and cost-effective approach to decrease tobacco initiation by youth, motivate adult smokers to quit, and eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.

What TCP Does

  • Uses the most current research findings to drive program activities
  • Works collaboratively with State and national partners to achieve program goals
  • Promotes policy change through evidence-based strategies that alter social norms and make tobacco less desirable, less acceptable, and less accessible
  • Implements hard-hitting, emotionally evocative media campaigns to accurately depict the negative consequences of tobacco use
  • Systematically evaluates its efforts to maximize impact and improve outcomes

TCP's Priority Areas

Community Programs

Advancing Tobacco-Free Communities
Statewide contractors promote and support tobacco-free norms in community environments. Rather than directly adopting tobacco control policies, contractors accomplish this by implementing a coordinated set of evidence-based strategies to build public, political, and organizational support for tobacco control policies. Teams are comprised of a community engagement component, and a youth action component, branded as Reality Check.

Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free New York
Statewide contractors work with federally qualified health centers (FQHC), mental health treatment facilities, and other health care organizations serving individuals with low-incomes, less than a high school diploma, and/or serious mental illness to implement systems-level changes that will result in the identification of tobacco users and delivery of evidence-based tobacco dependence treatment.

Health Communications

Both paid and earned media are utilized to reduce tobacco use. The TCP employs paid media on platforms including television, radio, billboards, social media, and in print to reach New Yorkers across the State. Additionally, contractors working with TCP's community programs – Advancing Tobacco-Free Communities and Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free New York – garner earned media to ensure the sustainability of their programs, specifically by emphasizing the effectiveness of the comprehensive tobacco control programs at saving lives and money.

The New York State Smokers’ Quitline

The New York State Smokers’ Quitline assists smokers who are trying to quit smoking by providing free services including information, tools, and confidential counseling and support in English and/or Spanish. The Quitline will additionally provide two weeks of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to callers at no cost.

For more information:
  • Call 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487) toll free, or
  • Visit www.nysmokefree.com

Surveillance, Evaluation & Research

There is continuous monitoring and evaluation of TCP programs to maximize efficiency and ensure the BTC and NYSDOH are investing resources wisely, making progress toward specified goals, and undertaking program improvements as necessary.

To learn more, please visit https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/tobacco_control/.

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This website was developed with funding provided by the New York State Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Control to CAI. Its contents are solely the responsibility of CAI and do not necessarily represent the official views of the New York State Department of Health.