Smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of avoidable death in the United States.
	Cigarettes kill more Americans than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs, and fires combined. Tobacco-related diseases are the number one preventable cause of death in this country, killing over 4,800 Iowans every year.

	For any cross section of adults who smoke daily, 89% began using cigarettes and 71% began smoking daily by or at age 18.
	Every day 43 Iowa youth under the age of 17 start smoking.

Studies show that young smokers are 3 times more likely to use alcohol, 8 times more likely to smoke marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine.

	Over one billion packs of cigarettes are illegally sold to children in this country every year. Among estimated 2.6 million U.S. smokers who are 12-17 years old, about 1.5 million (58%) usually buy their own cigarettes (CDC, 1992).
	1997 compliance checks in Iowa City found a 33% failure rate of licensed tobacco merchants.
	A February 1997 compliance check performed by Iowa City West High School students found that 9 of 15 retailers (60%) sold to an 18 year old without seeing an ID and 13 of the same 15 retailers (86.6%) sold to a 16 year old without seeing an ID.
	Woodridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago (pop.25,200) greatly reduced the incidence of merchant sales to minors (from 70% to 5%) in just 1.5 years by conducting quarterly compliance checks, resulting in the percent of eighth graders who reported being regular smokers decreasing from 16% to 5%.

The Cities of Johnson County, Iowa should take measures to enforce the 1991 Adolescent Smoking Prevention Act, by conducting regular compliance checks of licensed tobacco permit holders and issue fines for violations, with the permits suspended and ultimately revoked for additional violations of the law (Iowa Code Chapter 453A.22) and by issuing citations to minors for use, possession, purchasing, or attempting to purchase tobacco products with the option of a tobacco diversion class for the first offense.