UC Merced’s Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) has earned multiyear funding to continue its vital mission to embolden community partners and share policy-influencing data in the long battle against the pervasive use of tobacco and other inhalants in the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills.
NCPC received a $3.9 million four-year renewal grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. NCPC partners enhance the grant’s impact: California Health Collaborative, GreenInfo Network, Stanford University, and UC Irvine. The center’s director, Arturo Durazo, is a community health psychologist and Assistant Professor of Public Health. The NCPC principal investigator is Irene Yen, an epidemiologist and Professor of Public Health.
Tobacco is a significant health concern in rural areas of the San Joaquin Valley. The prevalence of cigarette smoking among rural adults in the United States was reported at 29%, notably higher than the national adult population's 12% in 2021. Smokeless tobacco also is used more extensively than in urban communities.
One in three underage decoys used by authorities to test tobacco retailers was able to purchase tobacco products in the Valley, according to California government data, a rate surpassed only the state’s northern foothills, highlighting a pressing need for education and policy enforcement.
The center has been at the forefront of examining the impacts of tobacco and cannabis use and engaging the community through surveys and workshops to gather data that can inform existing and new policies. This involves collaborations with county health departments and community-based organizations.
In the months ahead, the NCPC will create a dashboard of Valley-based data designed to influence how policymakers, agencies, community-based organizations and public health professionals share and acquire information related to tobacco, nicotine and cannabis use. The dashboard will be developed with input from collaborators and with information from Trent Johnson of the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC) about the California Tobacco Health Assessment Tool (CTHAT) developed at Stanford University under the guidance of Associate Professor Lisa Henriksen, a member of NCPC’s advisory board.
Additionally, the NCPC renewal extends work to train investigators to conduct regionally relevant research by annually awarding a pilot grant to an early career investigator. The 2025 pilot grant was awarded to Assistant Professor Colleen Naughton of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department for her project, “A Pilot for Estimating Smoking Prevalence in California’s San Joaquin Valley Using Wastewater Based Epidemiology.” Professor Naughton’s team has developed a way to assay tobacco metabolites in wastewater, thereby ascertaining the amount of smoking prevalence in a community. As surveying people in the region is labor-intensive, this novel approach could be a way to identify where programs and interventions are most needed.
