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View this as a webpage
March 2026
This is your bi-monthly digest of news and new resources for Minnesota professionals committed to reducing the harm of commercial tobacco use.
In this issue:
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The Time I Quit launched in January and features three young Minnesotans who’ve struggled with vaping in the past. Through a series of short ads, each of them shares their perspective on the worst part about vaping, as well as the best part about quitting.
Authenticity is in this work critical – it’s important for young people to hear from their peers. With Andre, Asher, and Kenya opening up about their experience, teens who struggle with vaping will know that they’re not alone and that help is out there. And hopefully, they’ll be encouraged to share their stories as well.
Check out their stories:
Learn more about Minnesota’s youth counter marketing campaigns and find free tools to extend them in your community.
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In Minnesota and beyond, flavored vapes aren’t just a health concern, they’re taking a toll on the environment as well. Disposable vapes contain lithium-ion batteries, plastic, and toxic chemicals that pollute soil and water and threaten public safety when discarded improperly. In 2025, the Tobacco-Free Alliance (TFA) launched the Vape Waste Team, in recognition of Earth Day and the intersection of health and environmental harm.
The Vape Waste Team, a youth-led effort, was established to address this issue in the community. A group of teens worked together to plan, promote, and evaluate three highly successful safe vape waste disposal events at high school sites across Dakota County. These events offered students a safe way to dispose of discarded vapes while also engaging and educating peers and adults about the environmental and health harms.
A blueprint for youth-led community action
TFA captured the team’s work and lessons learned in their new Vape Waste Team Toolkit, a resource for schools and other organizations to replicate these events in their communities.
This toolkit can help schools and community groups:
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- Form their own youth led Vape Waste Teams
- Educate youth and the broader community about flavored vapes and vape waste
- Take meaningful action to reduce health and environmental harms
- Connect individual behavior change to policy solutions, including efforts to end the sale of flavored commercial tobacco products that target youth
The toolkit goes beyond raising awareness. It emphasizes youth leadership, systems change, and sustainability – helping communities move from concern to action. Each section of the toolkit includes:
- Real examples from the Vape Waste Team’s work
- Step-by-step guidance for replicating vape waste disposal events
- Tips, templates, and resources for schools and community groups at any stage of this work
Building youth leadership for healthier communities
Vape waste, which largely consists of flavored, disposable vapes, is both a public health and environmental justice issue. The toolkit demonstrates how youth can lead efforts that address both health and the environment, while also building skills in leadership, advocacy, and community engagement.
“Being involved in the Vape Waste Team matters to me because it combines teamwork, connecting with the community, and I’ve been able to see firsthand how this work truly makes a difference,” shared Mekdelawit Tesfe, a Vape Waste Team member and senior at Eastview High School. “The toolkit will guide others to implement this project and make change in their own communities.”
By linking personal action – like proper disposal and peer education – to broader policy conversations, the toolkit equips young leaders to help create healthier, cleaner, and more equitable communities. The Vape Waste Team didn’t just make change; they built a roadmap for it. With the release of the Vape Waste Team Toolkit, that roadmap is available to communities everywhere.
About the Vape Waste Team
Funded by TFA’s Commercial Tobacco-Free Communities grant from the Minnesota Department of Health, the Vape Waste Team is a group of dedicated high school students who’ve spent three years addressing the harm caused by flavored vapes and the waste they leave behind. Through education, community engagement, and advocacy, these students have shown that young people are impacted by this issue and are uniquely positioned to lead solutions.
And the work isn’t done… planning for 2026 vape waste disposal events is already underway.
For more information, email el...@mntobaccofreealliance.org.
“Public health is invisible,” is a common saying among those working in and around the public health sector because when it’s working well, it’s not noticeable. While the work of public health may be invisible, the people who are working tirelessly behind the scenes to make public health should not be.
Our new storytelling initiative, Public Health People, is shining a light on just a few of the thousands of people across the state that work in public health to protect your health—and the health of your community. Through Public Health People, we will be sharing stories that highlight their work, so people all over the state can see the people that make public health possible.
These are your family, friends, neighbors, and fellow Minnesotans. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, public health people quietly reduce risks so daily life can feel normal, predictable, and safe.
This “invisible” public health system and the people who power it have likely saved your life, time and time again, without you noticing.
Public health is what prevents disease outbreaks, it’s why you feel confident drinking water from your sink each day, that the food you purchase at the store or enjoy at a restaurant is safe to eat, that the toys you gave your grandchildren are free of toxic chemicals, and helps a family in your neighborhood use WIC dollars to buy fresh produce at the local farmers market.
Public health is the education initiative that may prevent your niece from smoking, the outreach program that helps people who may be caring for a parent with dementia, and warnings when the air quality too is poor for you to safely take your dog on a long walk.
Take a few minutes to read the first couple of stories and watch for future stories to be released. Share these stories with your networks to help highlight the dedicated and passionate people working to protect, improve, and maintain the health of all people in Minnesota.
Subscribe to Public Health People to get notified when new stories are posted.
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Event: Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action
April 1
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Event: National Public Health Week
April 6-12
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Webinar: Empowering Youth Providers: Core Skills in Client-Centered Tobacco Treatment
April 7, from 11 a.m. to noon
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Conference: Minnesota Public Health Association 2026 Annual Conference
April 13-14
The Atwood Memorial Center, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota
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Training: Tobacco Treatment Specialist (TTS) Training
April 13-15
Minnesota Humanities Center, 987 Ivy Ave East, St. Paul, Minnesota
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Conference: 2026 Champions for Youth Summit
May 4-6
Hyatt Regency at Reston Town Center, Reston, Virginia
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Training: Ethics in Prevention Skills Training
May 12
Hallett Community Center, Crosby, Minnesota
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Training: Foundations of Client-Centered Tobacco Treatment for Behavioral Health Organizations
May 14, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
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Event: No Menthol Sunday
May 17
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Event: World No Tobacco Day: Unmasking the appeal – countering nicotine and tobacco addiction
May 31
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Webinar: Telling Stories with Data: A Crash Course in Data Visualization for Non-Expert Audiences
June 4, from 10 a.m. to noon
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Conference: National Tribal Tobacco Conference: Reclaiming and Restoring Traditional Tobacco in Today’s World
June 23-24
McNamara Alumni Center, 200 SE Oak St., Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Event: Return to First Medicines Annual Gathering
July 28-29
Shooting Star Casino and Hotel, Mahnomen, Minnesota
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Conference: 2026 Minnesota Prevention Program Sharing Conference
Oct. 13-14
St. Cloud River’s Edge Convention Center, St. Cloud, Minnesota
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Event: The Great American Smokeout
Nov. 19
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Communications
Data and research
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Data: 2024 Minnesota Adult Commercial Tobacco Data – Highlights from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (PDF) 2024 data from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System show 10.2% of Minnesota adults smoke cigarettes. Among adults, cigarettes continue to be the most used commercial tobacco product. Data also show that while, overall, commercial tobacco use is declining, rates are not declining at the same pace for all communities. Significant disparities remain among populations historically targeted by the tobacco industry.
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Report: Tobacco Product Use among U.S. Adults, 2023–2024 | Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota (PDF) A new Public Health Alerts report found that cigarette smoking among U.S. adults declined from 10.8% in 2023 to 9.9% in 2024, marking the first time adult cigarette smoking has fallen into the single digits. The authors note that this decline in cigarette smoking aligns with progress toward the Healthy People 2030 goal of 6.1%. If this decline continues, the target could be met or exceeded by 2030.
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Data: Changes in U.S. and State Cigarette Sales Following Flavored Tobacco Sales Restrictions (2019-2025) | CDC Foundation (PDF) Cigarette sales have declined substantially during the past seven years. Sales have declined more in states with comprehensive laws that prohibit the sale of most flavored commercial tobacco products, including flavored e-cigarettes, and menthol cigarettes.
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Report: Monitoring a Changing Tobacco Product Market in the United States – Urgent Action Needed to Protect Kids from Flavored Tobacco | CDC Foundation and Truth Initiative The report analyzes retail data on nicotine products sold from January 2019 to December 2024 and results from the Tobacco Epidemic Evaluation Network (TEEN+) Study, a nationally representative survey of youth and young adults aged 13-24.
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Report: New study shows that mental health messaging resonates with young e-cigarette users | Truth Initiative Findings from a new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health suggest that campaign messages that were focused on associations between vaping nicotine and anxiety, depression, and stress were relevant to and resonated with e-cigarette users who are trying to quit.
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Study: Clearly flavored: the rise of “clear” e-cigarettes | Truth Initiative Some e-cigarette companies are selling products labeled as a “clear” flavor, a term that suggests no identifiable flavor. However, a new study from Truth Initiative shows that many of these products use widespread flavor and taste language in their online descriptions, which may increase their appeal for young people.
Policy and systems change
Promoting quitting and treatment
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Mobile app: New mobile app from My Life, My Quit™ This new mobile app gives Minnesota teens another way to access free, confidential support to quit vaping or using other nicotine products. Designed with feedback from teens, this app makes quit support more accessible, engaging, and available anytime. The My Life, My Quit™ app is free and available on major mobile app stores.
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Training: Minnesota Tobacco Prevention QuitLogix® Training Free, accredited continuing education courses from the Minnesota Department of Health and Quit Partner™, which are designed with busy professionals in mind. They are quick, easy, engaging, and will expand your knowledge base to help you best work with those who use commercial tobacco.
- Factsheet: Greater Access to Commercial Tobacco Treatment Medication and Counseling Will Save Money and Lives | Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation
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Factsheet: Increasing Broadband Access for Cardiovascular Disease Control and Commercial Tobacco Cessation | SelfMade Health Network (PDF) This factsheet features multi-sector recommendations and free resources available to support low-income populations and communities nationwide. Health systems, state and county government programs, non-profit organizations, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, coalitions, and other sectors can lower cardiovascular disease and cancer risks in their jurisdictions by improving access to broadband internet and digital resources to help people quit commercial tobacco long term, especially in rural communities and other medically underserved areas.
Retailers and licensing
Youth engagement
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Guide: Plan Your Event: Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action | Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids This year's Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action marks three decades of challenging Big Tobacco's deadly tactics. Make your voice heard with one of the event’s signature activities — designed for advocates of all experience levels and ready to make a real impact in their community.
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Toolkit: Vape Waste Team Toolkit | Tobacco-Free Alliance (PDF) A resource for schools and other organizations to implement vape waste disposal events in their community. This toolkit emphasizes youth leadership, systems change, and sustainability – helping communities move from concern to action.
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Toolkit: Tools to Address Vaping in Schools | Minnesota Department of Health Recently updated, this toolkit outlines vaping prevention curricula and offers resources to help schools strengthen policies, engage parents and staff, and support students in quitting. It also highlights the risks of nicotine addiction and its impact on chronic health conditions like asthma and academic performance.
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Toolkit: UNFILTERED: Youth Tell Their Truth About Big Tobacco | American Lung Association This toolkit is designed to elevate youth and young adult voices in the fight against commercial tobacco. It captures the real experiences of teens and young adults navigating the vaping crisis and the rise of nicotine pouches, and it provides a platform for youth to speak candidly, and for communities to listen, learn, and act.
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Guide: Guide to Wellness Reflection Journal | Minnesota Department of Health (PDF) The Guide to Wellness Reflection Journal from Room to Breathe is designed to help young people reflect, plan, and breathe, especially when life feels overwhelming. Minnesota teens helped curate the journal’s activities, writing and drawing prompts, and the art featured throughout. Partners, schools, and other community organizations are encouraged to share and distribute these journals in their community.
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Opportunity: Feedback requested from young Minnesotans on cannabis use | Minnesota Department of Health The Minnesota Department of Health is looking for teens or young adults ages 13 to 24 who are interested in health and wellbeing and are willing to share their thoughts on cannabis use. This opportunity is virtual, and participants will be eligible to receive a gift card upon completion.
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Opportunity: Minnesota Youth Public Health Content Creator Application | Minnesota Department of Health The Minnesota Department of Health is calling all youth (ages 14-18) to join a team of creators! As part of this initiative, youth will create paid social media content around key public health awareness and education topics and become an influencer to their peers.
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Free help for people in Minnesota
It’s hard to quit smoking, vaping, or using other commercial tobacco products. But there’s good news – many people have quit successfully, and there are medications and strategies to make it easier. In fact, people who use phone coaching and quit medications are twice as likely to successfully quit.
Multiple services are available for residents:
Free tools are resources are also available to help promote quitting and treatment in your community.
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About commercial tobacco use prevention and treatment in Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Health partners with organizations across the state to reduce the harm of commercial tobacco use, like smoking or vaping. Together we’re working to keep Minnesota healthy by preventing initiation among young people, promoting quitting and treatment, eliminating secondhand exposure, and identifying and eliminating disparities.
Learn more about commercial tobacco use in Minnesota at health.mn.gov/tobacco. To add items to a future newsletter, submit content for inclusion. For questions about this newsletter, email tob...@state.mn.us.
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