The Benefits of a Local Tobacco Control Alliance: The Means to Effect Change
National tobacco control activities provide the mechanisms by which tobacco can be de-normalised; changing tobacco culture from one of acceptance and tolerance of the disadvantages imposed by its use to one of informed and growing rejection.
Effective national tobacco control activities are aimed at reducing the demand for and supply of tobacco products.
Activities that reduce demand can include:
•banning or restricting advertising and the promotion of tobacco products;
•legislation to prohibit smokingin public places;
•highly visible warnings on tobacco product packaging;
•support for those who want to stop smoking;
•information campaigns about the dangers of tobacco use.
Activities that reduce supply can include:
•the control of smugglingactivities;
•the enforcement of laws to restrict sales to minors;
•crop substitution and the elimination of farm subsidies.
In 2004 the Scottish Executive set out a tobacco control action plan for Scotland entitled ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’.
This action plan paved the way for the Smoking Health and Social Care Act (Scotland) 2005 which came into force on 26th March 2006 and prohibited smoking in enclosed public places.
In October 2007 The Scottish Government raised the age of purchase of tobacco products from 16 years of age to 18 years of age.
In May 2008 The Scottish Government launched their Smoking Prevention Action Plan, Scotland’s Future is Smoke-free containing measures to reduce the number of young people taking up smoking each year in Scotland(40 a day). These measures included new targets for reducing sales to young people including the banning of vending machines, placing tobacco displays out of sight and giving trading standards services targets for test purchasing and educating retailers and joint working with HMRC to reduce the supply of illicit tobacco products. (The Enhanced Tobacco Sales Programme and The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010) In addition the prevention action plan highlights areas such as school policy and ethos as having a significant influence on whether or not a young person is likely to start smoking and advocates that all those who work or come into contact with children and young people to have a health leadership role and be in the vanguard of changing smoking cultures in Scotland.
The Scottish government has made available an additional £1.5 million per year for three years (2008/2011) for Health Boards and £1.5 milliona year for local authorities (2008/2011) to deliver the Smoking Prevention Action Plan.
The success of these programmes and high levels of compliance with the smokefree legislation has instigated the move towards the cultural change that is required to de-normalise tobacco use in Scotland.
The time is now right to further develop this attitudinal change by engaging with communities at a local level.
This mobilisation of the community can enhance local activities such as preventing young people’s access to cigarettes both from commercial and social sources of supply, protecting babies and children from exposure to second-hand smoke in the home, reducing the supply of smuggled tobacco and cigarettes and increasing the uptake of smoking cessation support.
Tobacco control has traditionally been the responsibility of the health sector but clearly to be successful these interventions require the input and support of many diverse organisations.
A local tobacco control alliance which incorporates the activities of all of these organisations can ensure a well planned, co-ordinated approach providing greater opportunity for community engagement and increasing the chances of sustainability.
All websites and weblinks were accessed on 7th April 2010
Some useful documents, websites and weblinks used in this document.
Produced for national governments to assist them in building their tobacco control capacity this publication contains some good advice for planning work at a community level.
World Health Organisation Tobacco Free Initiative. 2004. Building Blocks for Tobacco Control. A Handbook. France. World Health Organisation.
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Biglan, A., Ary, D., Yudelson, H., Duncan, T. E., Hood, D., James, L., Koehn, V., Wright, Z., Black, C., Levings, D., Smith, S., & Glaiser, E. (1996). Experimental evaluation of a modular approach to mobilizing anti-tobacco influences of peers and parents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24(3), 311-339.
Biglan, A., Ary, D., Koehn, V., Levings, D., Smith, S., Wright, Z., James, L., & Henderson, J. (1996). Mobilising positive reinforcement in communities to reduce youth access to tobacco. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24(5), 624-638.
Biglan, A., Ary, D.V., Smolkowski, K., Duncan, T.E., & Black, C. (2000). A randomized control trial of a community intervention to prevent adolescent tobacco use. Tobacco Control, 9, 24-32.
Forster, J. L., Murray, D. M., Wolfson, M., Blaine, T. M., Wagenaar, A. C., & Hennrikus, D. J. (1998). The effects of community policies to reduce youth access to tobacco. The American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 88, No. 8. 1193-1198.
Working for a tobacco-free Scotland17th April 2010
Action on Smoking & Health (Scotland) (ASH Scotland) is a registered Scottish charity (SC 010412) and a company limited by guarantee (Scottish company no 141711).