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Welcome to the web site of the Tobacco Free Partnership of DeSoto County, Florida!

The Partnership was created in November, 2009, to coordinate tobacco prevention and control efforts by residents and community groups in DeSoto County.

The QuitDoc Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Coral Springs, Florida, is the fiscal agent for the organization at this time.

 

Our Mission

The mission of the Tobacco Free Partnership of DeSoto 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 DeSoto County. Please visit the section on policy change for some of the policy initiatives that the Partnership is currently pursuing.