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Tobacco Free Policy Essay

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Unquestionably, there is a problem in the US Army with drafting and implementing strong tobacco policies at the local level. Currently, US Army installations draft polices that do not comply with federal law and Department of Defense (DoD) regulations. There is a lack of consistency and enforcement in tobacco policies across commands (Jahnke et al., 2011). The Department of Defense has an opportunity to standardize a strong tobacco free policy that can be implemented at the local level to combat the rate of tobacco use for overall health and physical readiness within the force.
Presently, in the Army 17% of Soldiers were classified as not medically ready for deployment and 32% of Soldiers reported tobacco use (Bell et al., 2015). The prevalence of tobacco use in the military and especially in the US Army is an enormous health care burden. Unfortunately, tobacco use in the military is pervasive and current federal law for tobacco in federal workplaces (Executive Order 13058) and DoD regulations (AR 600-63) are not being implemented or enforced. Tobacco use still continues to be a cultural norm even though Soldiers are required to meet physical health standards (medical readiness). Prevalence of cardiovascular disease/COPD is high within the U.S. Army population and can be linked to tobacco use. …show more content…

Tobacco free medical campuses and hospitals have become a common practice, since 2009, 45% of US hospitals have adopted a smoke-free campus policy (Williams et al., 2009). The current climate, cost, and impact within the workforce population is ideal for establishing a benchmark for reducing the rates of tobacco use across the entire US Army population. The policy would reach a much larger target audience to include veterans who visit the medical facilities on

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