From Healthy People 2020 Stories from the Field, a series highlighting communities across the Nation that are addressing the Leading Health Indicators (LHIs).

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease in the United States. It causes more deaths than HIV, drug and alcohol misuse, motor vehicle accidents, suicide, and murder combined. In the state of Minnesota, smoking is responsible for more than $3 billion in annual health care costs and contributes to more than 6,000 deaths each year.

In the face of this, a pair of Minnesota organizations — a public health agency and an independent nonprofit organization — have been collaborating for over 20 years to reduce tobacco use among adults and youth in their state. And their work has had quite an impact.

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