WINS check shows compliance on tobacco

Only a fraction of Douglas County stores sold tobacco products to minors during the annual Wisconsin WINS compliance checks. Of the 81 checks in Douglas County, only 2.2 percent sold tobacco to minors. In all, 20 area youth took part in the program as compliance checkers.

Wisconsin WINS is a science-based program designed to decrease youth access to tobacco products. Wisconsin WINS was launched in the spring of 2002 as part of a comprehensive approach to preventing youth access and ultimately reducing use of tobacco by our youth. The program has been highly successful in reducing sales to minors from 33 percent in 2001 to 5.7 percent statewide in 2009.

As we celebrate February as Heart Health Month, with tobacco use still the number one cause of preventable death and disease in our state, the American Lung Association in Wisconsin, as part of the Northwest Wisconsin Multi-Jurisdictional Coalition (NW MJC) is happy to report the results of 282 tobacco compliance checks that took place in the region during 2011.

Ashland, Bayfield, Iron and Washburn counties all scored 100 percent compliance with no sales to minors. Douglas had 2.2 percent and Sawyer had 6.9 percent of sales. The good news is that the vast majority of vendors comply with the law.

Congratulations to the hundreds of clerks that said “no” when asked to sell tobacco to minors, the youth, parents and local law enforcement for supporting this important program.

For more information about the program, including education materials for vendors, please contact the American Lung Association in Wisconsin, PO Box 1438, Superior, WI 54880 or email pat.mckone@lungum.org

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