New Campaign Targets Retailers That Sell Tobacco

A new national campaign is urging people to shop at stores that don’t sell tobacco in hopes that young Hoosiers never take that first puff. 

Around 18 percent of Indiana High School students smoke cigarettes according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says that could mean grave health consequences.

"Even in the Indianapolis area among kids alive today, over 150,000 will die prematurely and unnecessarily unless strong action is taken," says Myers.

Myer's group is launching a new campaign that offers a mobile-friendly website that pinpoints the location of tobacco free retailers and urges families to shop at them. 

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is applauding retailers like CVS and Target, that have recently chosen to stop selling cigarettes and calling on other stores, big and small, to do the same. Myers says cigarette displays have a negative impact.

"The very availability of products and advertising, prominently displayed as they often are increases the likelihood that young people will start." says Myers.   

Myers says ending tobacco sales also sends a message to young people that tobacco use is unacceptable.  The group says kids in Indiana buy nearly 20 million packs of cigarettes every year.

In recent years Indiana has cut funding for smoking prevention programs and now spends only around 7 percent of what the CDC recommends.