Commissioner's Office

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth

Among large US cities, Philadelphia has one of the highest rates of youth smoking:

Cigarettes are relatively cheap compared to other large cities.
Philadelphia has more retailers (per person) for youth to purchase tobacco products, compared to other large cities.
One in three retailers sells tobacco products illegally to youth smokers.

Get Healthy Philly is taking a multi-faceted approach to decreasing minors' access to tobacco products.

Our Action Plan

Increase penalties and enhance enforcement for retailers who sell tobacco products to minors.
Educate retailers on how to prevent tobacco sales to minors through face-to-face, culturally appropriate education sessions.
Monitor tobacco retailers through new legislative permitting requirements. Develop and implement a local database to track tobacco retailer permitting, youth sales, and citations.
Implement youth-focused media initiatives to discourage tobacco use initiation.

2011-12 Achievements

A citywide student video contest generated a series of community-generated testimonials about the impact of smoking in Philadelphia.
In 2010, City Council raised penalties from $100 to $250 for retailers who sell tobacco products illegally to minors.
The overall youth sales rate decreased by 16% and the recidivism rate - the sales rate among retailers who had previously made an illegal sale - decreased by 14%.
Completed over 12,000 compliance checks and issued over 7,500 citations. Conducted nearly 3,000 in- person, culturally tailored merchant education sessions.
City Council passed a law requiring all tobacco retailers to obtain a $50 annual permit, starting January 2012.
Developed and launched a new web-based database to monitor tobacco retailers.

You can report retailers online or by calling 1-888-99-SMOKE (1-888-99-76653).

2011-2012 Annual Report

Resources

Find Out More

For more information, visit SmokeFree Philly or call 311.

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