Effective Prevention in New Jersey

change physical design

Tobacco : After extensive advocacy by REBEL youth and Tobacco Coalitions, NJ passes the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act which makes all public indoor spaces smoke-free. Local advocacy continues to increase smoke-free outdoor recreational areas. Alcohol : New signage is created for all retailers and bars to post that communicates the drinking age is 21. A municipality passes a “Content Neutral Advertising” ordinance which is a law restricting any advertisements in store windows. This eliminates alcohol advertising visible to youth walking to school.

modify policy

Tobacco : In 2018 and 2019 (New Jersey and the US, respectively), the legal tobacco age of sale is raised to 21. (Tobacco 21) Alcohol : The law is changed to now allow Compliance Checks to be implemented which holds retailers accountable if they sell to minors.

Through this multi-strategy approach, applied consistently over time, we have prevented people from “falling into the river” not only today, but for generations to come. Evidence-based individual and community-based environmental prevention strategies do work, but they require time and constant vigilance. While US smoking rates have declined steadily from their peak of 45% in 1954, the death rate from tobacco-related illnesses did not level off and start to decrease until 1993. Today the rate of smoking among US adults stands at 15%.

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