Tobacco.org

Fining Teens Who Smoke Is a Very Effective Means to Reduce Smoking By Children  

Along with imposing higher taxes, banning smoking in public places, and antismoking education, prosecuting teens who use tobacco in public is a very effective technique for reducing smoking by children, says a new scientific study and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

The new study comes just in time because the decline in smoking by kids seems to be stalled, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of ASH, who suggests that youth possession, use, and purchase (PUP) laws which currently exist in 45 states -- but are rarely enforced -- should be dusted off and more actively used as an additional technique to help prevent an entirely new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine.

Contrary to some alarmists, teens are not thrown in jail for smoking.

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