title: The Colorado Tobacco-Free Schools and Communities Project.
abstract: This article defends the appropriateness of tobacco-free school policies as an effective tool toward ensuring young people develop into healthy and intellectually strong adults, and demonstrates how such a policy can be introduced into a school district. Health education efforts to eliminate tobacco use are widely considered more effective when carried out in concert with school policies and adult role models offering the consistent message that tobacco use is unhealthy and unacceptable. Studies indicate students who attend schools with strict smoking policies are less likely to begin smoking than students who attend schools without such policies. Through research, support, and guidance, the Colorado Tobacco-Free Schools and Communities Project successfully has assisted almost half the 176 school districts in Colorado to adopt such policies.
authors.affiliation: Colorado Dept. of Health, Denver 80220-1530.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Peck
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Acott
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D006266:Health Education / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D016134:Organizational Policy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011635:Public Health Administration; D012572:School Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention