Tobacco Documents Online

PUBLIC HEALTH MACAOVIEW l'. YOUTH TARGETED IN SMOKING PREVENTION EFFORTS Through a combination of anti- smoking legislation and education programs, young people across the country are being singled out as tar- gets for smoking prevention efforts. The statistics show why. Approxi- mately 90% of all adult smokers begin to smoke regularly before age 21, with almost half beginning before they reach 18 years of age. Each day more than 3,000 adoles- cents in this country begin to smoke. The National Center for Health 1965 SMOKING PREVALENCE FOR PERSONS AGED 18-24, BY SEX, 1965 -1987 60 Page 4 1990 OBJECTI VES: 1974 1983 1987 Soura: Natwnat CGn»r b.. 14681111 Subsucs , subject to a $3,000 fine and/or one year imprison- ment. Twenty states have penalties that may be applied to underage persons for purchasing tobacco products. o_ Statistics' 1987 National' Adolescent Health Survey found that over half of all eighth graders have tried cigarettes. A 1985 survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 15% of youths aged 12 through 17 smoke cigarettes. Almost all states have restricted minors' access to tobacco products, with all but six states (Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming) having passed laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors. Nine states impose penalties on persons furnishing tobacco to minors. Minnesota has one of the most severe penalties, with offenders Volume 3 Number 2 STATES WITH LAWS RESTRICTING SMOKING, 1990 Still, many youths have little difficulty obtaining cig- arettes. Dr. Louis Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently said, "We have found~ it convenient to look the other way as cigarettes are openly sold to our nation's youth." Dr. Sullivan called for the licensing of tobacco retailers, tougher enforcement of laws prohibiting tobacco purchases by minors, and a ban on cigarette vending machines. He cited a recent HHS Inspector Gen- eral report that noted that vending machines account for 16% of cigarette sales to minors. Range N ~ Public ano onvate worRptaces. 14 C= Public worttptaces only 19 C= No sucn iaws t 8 Objective: 8u 1990,, laws should exist in all 50 statrs establishing C=I Distnet ot Colutnbia ~;eparate smoking a+ras at work. Sourcr. TobaOWFrle Ame Seventeen states regulate the sale of ~ tobacco in vending machines. Four- Q t'een of these states require that signs N be posted on vending machines W stating that minors are prohibited ~ from purchasing tobacco products. ~ Another five states require that ~ vending machines be placed in a~ supervised location. One state, ~ Wisconsin, prohibits placement of ~ March a oril 1990 ; t

PUBLIC HEALTH MACROVIEW jIf/fOKING AND HEALTH cigarette vending machines within 500 feet of schools. State health agencies and other health organizations are developing new ways to attract the attention of young people in their communities to give them anti-smoking messages. Penn- svlvania is one of the states where the health department has joined'. forces with the Americart Heart Association: the American Lung Association, and the American Cancer Society to sup- port Athletes Against Tobacco (AAT): AAT, comprised of professional and amateur athletes and coaches, was formed to heighten awareness of' younger people about the dangers of tobacco use. SMOKING PREVALENCE FOR PERSONS AGED 20 AND OVER, BY RACE. 19.65-1987 The Massachusetts Department of Health has also used athletics as a forum for smoking prevention efforts. In addition to sponsoring a conference for high school coaches on the dangers of smokeless tobacco, the health department worked with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to ban tobacco use, including smokeless tobacco, among high school athletes during the sports season: ~ ~ Students are also getting the anti-smoking message L in the classroom. A 1988 National School Boards C. Association survey of 2,000 of the more than 15.0007i public school districts found that 75% have anti- smoking educational' programs at' the elementarv level, 81% at the middle schoollevel, and 78% at the . high school level. These numbers have increased by" 14-17 percentage points from those reported in a sim- ilar survey conducted in 1986. Ninety-five percent of all respondent school districts had a written policy or regulation on tobacco smoking in schools and' 17°'0 have banned smoking on school premises. Prompted by the Surgeon General's call for a smoke- free generation of Americans by the year 2000, the STATES WITH COMPREHENSIVE CLEAN INDOOR AIR LAWS. OCTOBER 1989 American Lung Association, the Amer- ican Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association have joined efforts to launch the school-based' "Smoke- Free Class of 2000 Project." The project is a 12-year education and' awareness campaign that focuses on children who entered the first grade in 1988 and will graduate from high school in the year 2000. Each year, the smoke-free chal- lenge will be passed on to a new first grade class. The 1990 objectives call for reducing to less than 6% the percentage of youths aged 12 through 18 who smoke. March April 1990 Volume 3 'VLncer 2