RJ Reynolds school-based smoking prevention curriculum – 10/16/09

Q: RJ Reynolds has translated its curriculum “Right Decisions, Right Now” into Spanish and it is called “Aprende – Vive Libre de Tabaco.”  They have been trying to get this curriculum piloted in Puerto Rico.   We don’t know if it has already been implemented in Spanish in other parts of the country. The National Latino Tobacco Control Network would like to know:

  • Have any states accepted and/or are implementing the RJ Reynolds school-based smoking prevention curriculum?   
  • If not, what strategies have been used to keep these tobacco industry-sponsored curriculums out of the schools?

Is there any interest in holding a Webinar to share how states have addressed and/or are addressing this issue and also highlight how this is being addressed in Puerto Rico?

A:

  1. District of Columbia: We have no knowledge about the RJ Reynolds School Based Smoking Prevention Curriculum implementation in the District of Columbia.  We are interested in participating in a Webinar for lessons learned on this subject matter for prevention techniques in case we’re ever faced with this intervention.
     
  2. Montana: Montana has not implemented this curriculum. However, we “catch it” often, just before someone in a school (guidance counselor, health teacher) is about to implement! There may be a few small schools that use it without our knowledge.
     
    We educate our local contractors and, in turn, expect them to educate people in the schools about this issue. We have more than 400 independent school districts, and there is no “authority” they all answer to. The Office of Public Instruction is a partner with our program and we just formed a working group to promote comprehensive tobacco free policies in the schools that includes the rejection of industry curriculum.
     
    I do think this is worth a webinar.
     
  3. North Carolina: Even in N.C., educators seem to be very suspicious of education materials provided by tobacco companies. The last time a school system was seriously considering using a tobacco industry curriculum, a close look at the content made it clear that it was not a good option. We found specific parts of the curriculum – I think it was “Right decisions” - -but it was many years ago – that we could point out as problematic. For example, there was no mention of addiction at that time. And very little mention of health effects. Smoking was identified as an “adult activity” that was not appropriate for teens.
     
    I expect the problems within the content are more difficult to find now. But most of the school folks we have had contact with are not interested in tobacco industry products – even if they are very pretty and free. THEY will say, “Having a tobacco company teach tobacco resistance is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse.”
     
  4. West Virginia: As can best be determined, this RJR Curriculum is NOT being used in WV.

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