Youth leaders with San Francisco's Tobacco Use Reduction Force (TURF) tell their story about the impacts of tobacco in their neighborhoods, and what they are doing about it.
The low-income neighborhoods of San Francisco, with relatively high densities of youth and people of color, have a disproportionately high concentration of tobacco retailers. This exposure fosters higher smoking rates among the poor.
TURF members, who are gaining skills as researchers and community advocates, have put forward a proposal to protect public health by limiting the density of retailers permitted to sell tobacco, and continues to advocate to develop legislation — the first of its kind in the U.S. — that will effectively address the over-concentration of tobacco retailers in disadvantaged and marginalized communities.
TURF is a project of the Youth Leadership Institute.
FYI, SAMHSA oversees implementation of the Synar Amendment, which requires States to have laws in place prohibiting the sale and distribution of tobacco products to persons under 18 and to enforce those laws effectively.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's another group of intelligent kids who've seen enough tobacco advertisement in their community and are spreading the word for it to stop during World No Tobacco Day.
ReplyDeleteIllegal sales of tobacco to youngsters was down more than two percent between June 2011 and June 2013, according to figures released Tuesday by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. I'd like to think it's because of TURF's interventions. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteRead more at: SF Gate | City Insider - Tobacco sales to youth slip