(a)  The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(1)  Smoking is the single most important source of preventable disease and premature death in California.

(2)  More than 30 percent of coronary heart disease cases are attributable to cigarette smoking.

(3)  More than 30 percent of all annual cancer deaths are attributable to smoking, with lung cancer now the leading cancer killer in women as well as men.

(4)  Smoking is responsible for one-quarter of all deaths caused by fire.

(5)  Involuntary smoking is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in healthy nonsmokers.

(6)  More than 80 percent of chronic obstructive lung diseases including emphysema and chronic bronchitis are attributable to smoking.

(7)  Tobacco-related disease places a tremendous financial burden upon the persons with the disease, their families, the health care delivery system, and society as a whole. California spends five billion six hundred million dollars ($5,600,000,000) a year in direct and indirect costs on smoking-related illnesses.

(8)  The elimination of smoking is the number one weapon against four of the five leading causes of death in California.

(9)  Keeping children and young adults from beginning to use tobacco and encouraging all persons to quit tobacco use shall be the highest priority in disease prevention for the State of California. More than 60 percent of all smokers begin smoking by the age of 14, and 90 percent begin by the age of 19.

(10)  The State of California shall play a leading role in promoting a smoke-free society by the year 2000 and thereby supporting the National Health Status Objectives for the year 2000 relating to smoking and tobacco use.

(b)  It is the intent of the Legislature, therefore, to require the department, local lead agencies, and the State Department of Education to cooperatively and individually conduct activities directed at the prevention of tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases. The campaign shall focus on health promotion, disease prevention, and risk reduction, utilizing a “wellness” perspective that encourages self-esteem and positive decisionmaking techniques. It is also the intent of the Legislature that, for the purpose of program planning and program evaluation, the department provide data and technical information on tobacco-related diseases, tobacco use and its consequences, and effective personal and community interventions to prevent tobacco use.

(Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 1996.)