Impact study of tobacco possession law enforcement in Florida

This study of tobacco possession law enforcement was conducted in four sele cted counties in Florida, the first state to report statistically significa nt annual declines in youth tobacco use during the 1990s. The primary objec tive of this study was to assess the impact of possession enforcement on yo uth attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors by comparing results of a survey administered in high-enforcement counties with results from low-enforcement counties and by examining the survey results for relationships of tobacco use to perceptions and awareness of laws and enforcement activity. The surv ey was administered to a sample of 2,088 randomly selected youth, in conjun ction with a qualitative study of law enforcement officials reported elsewh ere. Findings indicate that possession enforcement, as a component of compr ehensive tobacco control, appears to help reduce youth tobacco use and may be a critical component of the most successful youth tobacco prevention pro gram, documented in the previous decade.