Organizing Communities to Prevent the Sale of Tobacco Products to Minors

Abstract

In New York State, it is illegal to sell tobacco products to persons under the age of eighteen. A 1989 survey of 120 retail stores in Erie County, New York, found that 82 percent sold cigarettes illegally to fourteen and fifteen year olds. In an effort to address this problem, Project SCAN (Stop Children's Addiction to Nicotine) was launched by Roswell Park Cancer Institute in the Spring of 1990. Project SCAN had three objectives: 1) to increase public awareness of the problem of youth tobacco use; 2) to educate merchants about the tobacco access law to promote voluntary compliance; and 3) to encourage local law enforcement agencies to enforce the access law. This article describes our experience in implementing Project SCAN including strategies used to recruit volunteers to deliver merchant education materials, reaction of merchants to the program, and the involvement of local police departments in enforcement efforts. Case examples describing how Project SCAN has been implemented in two communities illustrate the importance of community participation and law enforcement in the success of the program.