1. Larimer County Tobacco and Youth Project.
- Author
-
Watson, Ann and Grove, Nancy
- Subjects
- *
SMOKING laws , *LAW enforcement , *YOUTH health , *PREVENTION of tobacco use - Abstract
The article reports on a local community project based on tobacco use among youth in Larimer County, Colorado. The Larimer County Tobacco Access and Youth Project makes a collaboration between public health officials, citizen activists, voluntary organizations, and a community coalition helped create new local laws to regulate the sale and use of tobacco products by minors in 3 cities in Larimer County. The project began after the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment discovered that the state law regulating the sale of tobacco to minors was ineffective. A strategy to address this problem was developed and used in the city of Loveland. The successful strategy was subsequently modified to meet the unique needs and characteristics of each of the other 2 cities, Fort Collins and Estes Park. The first step in the process was to identify the city's power structure and mode of operations for passing ordinances and to organize advocates. The second step was to establish a working relationship with the law enforcement establishment. The third step was documenting need for an ordinance to prevent tobacco sales to minors. The impact on the Loveland community has been positive. Compliance checks showed that tobacco sales to minors dropped to 14% shortly after the ordinance was passed and then to 5.8% after 1 year.
- Published
- 1999