The Vermont Tobacco Control Program (VTCP), as part of its comprehensive tobacco program, has developed a network of cessation services to encourage the estimated 79,000 adults who smoke cigarettes and use tobacco products and tobacco substitutes in the state to quit. Re-branded as 802Quits, VTCP has three main programs to support Vermonters with their tobacco cessation efforts: telephone cessation counseling, hereafter referred to as Quitline; in-person group cessation counseling; and webbased cessation support, hereafter referred to as Quit Online. Text messaging support is available through the Quitline and Quit Online programming. The web portal which encompasses our entire brand can be found at www.802Quits.org. VTCP also provides, free of charge, Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), such as patches, gum or lozenges, available to tobacco users enrolled in any of the 802Quits programs. VTCP also provides financial incentives to enrollees who meet specific guidelines, to improve engagement and utilization of quitline services. Comprehensive tobacco prevention programming in Vermont involves the Department of Health, the Agency of Education, and the Department of Liquor & Lottery. Additional information about Vermont's Tobacco Control Program administered through the Department of Health can be located at: http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/tobacco/index.aspx. The primary target audience for the quitline has been Vermont adults, age 18 and over, who use tobacco products and have shown a readiness to quit. According to 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), approximately 73,300 (16%) of Vermonters are current cigarette smokers, 5% are ecigarette users, and 3% use smokeless tobacco products. Additionally, the VTCP is seeing nearly 30% of its Quitline registrants are using e-cigarettes; the state’s Adult Tobacco Survey from 2014 shows that 15% of adult tobacco users are also reporting use of e-cigarettes. The current package of quitline services include support for cessation of vaping devices, as well as all other tobacco/nicotine products. According to the State’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 18% of high school students reported ever trying a cigarette, while 33% of high school students reported ever trying a vape device. YRBS data from 2021 also shows that in Vermont—5% used cigarettes in the past 30 days, 16% used a vape device in the past 30 days. Starting in 2007, tobacco users aged 13 - 17 have been able to call and arrange counseling with quitline contractors without receiving adult consent from parents or guardians. As of 2020, youth in Vermont also were offered cessation services directly through the Vermont State Quitline. 802Quits served over 3,800 (6.1%) of Vermont tobacco users in fiscal year 2022. The Quitline program receives and answers on average 225 calls for tobacco users and proxy callers per month, seeing over 70 enrollees to the phone program per month. The Quit Online program registers an average of nearly 225 tobacco users per month. With the quitline call volumes decreasing over the past 5+ years both in Vermont and nationally, VTCP’s phone-based quitline volumes are at an alltime low, while our online volumes are at all-time highs.
