Commentary: Lessons learned on translating research to policy and implications for future tobacco control

Primarily as a result of litigation against the tobacco industry, over the last ten years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been made available to invest in tobacco control programs in the United States. Fortunately, much of these funds have been invested in programs and policies that have been shown to be effective in reducing tobacco use through policy research and rigorous program evaluation. However, with the current severe national economic downturn and the imminent sunset of the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program, support for policy research and evaluation and vigorous action to communicate findings to policy makers and advocates could diminish considerably in the future, in turn potentially weakening ability to invest in effective programs and policies.

The discussant will discuss the other symposium presentations and comment on the lessons learned from the past almost 20 years of tobacco policy research and communications for future tobacco policy research, communications and control strategies.