The mission of the Tobacco Free Partnership of Okeechobee County is to mobilize community partners to establish long-lasting system and policy changes that promote tobacco-free social norms in order to prevent usage of tobacco products by youth/young adults, encourage and support tobacco cessation, eliminate the hazards of secondhand smoke, and decrease the number of deaths due to tobacco products.
Current Policy Objectives:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a set of Best Practices for Tobacco Control Programs. A key component of the CDC recommendations is the creation and promotion of tobacco-free policies. This is based on the impact that smoke-free workplace legislation, including smoking restrictions in restaurants, has made on youth tobacco use. Smoke-free policies help young people to realize that tobacco use is not a ''normal'' adult behavior... an attitude that the tobacco industry has marketed for years.
The Tobacco Free Partnership is currently exploring a number of tobacco-free policies and partnering with other organizations in an attempt to create true ''tobacco-free social norms'' in Okeechobee County. Please visit the section on policy change for some of the policy initiatives that the Partnership is currently pursuing.
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