Indicator Description
The availability of cigarette and other tobacco products is widespread, and advertising is prominent. Research has shown that easy access and promotions that glamorize smoking lead to higher smoking initiation among youth and adolescents.

What to Measure

• The number of stores, gas stations, vending machines, and other retail outlets where cigarettes are sold.
• Sales locations around schools. This measure is useful if a community is interested in youth access to tobacco.
• Sources of cigarettes for youth. Youth often purchase their own cigarettes while others get them from friends, family, or other sources. This data is available in state or local surveys such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
• Percent of tobacco settlement money spent on prevention.

Where to Find Local Data

• Call your tobacco state licensing bureau for the addresses of distributors with licenses (if your state does license or regulate tobacco sales).
• Conduct an observational survey counting the number of sales locations in specific areas of your community.
• Contact the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for tobacco settlement spending information.

Interpretation Guidelines

• Changes in the location of cigarette sales or other measures of cigarette availability can help assess how successful a community has been in reducing the accessibility of cigarettes to youth, and can be used to describe the dimensions of local access.

Paso del Norte Health Foundation. Border Report A Status Report of El Paso Youth Risk Behavior, September 2003.