© 2007 American Public Health Association DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.101659
Frances A. Stillman and Erika Avila-Tang are with the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Md. Lee Bone and Katherine Smith are with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Norman Yancey is with the Community Building in Partnership, Baltimore. Calvin Street is with the YO! Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition, Baltimore. Kerry Owings is with the YO! Westside Center, Baltimore. Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Frances A. Stillman, EdD, Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St, Room W6027, Baltimore, MD 21205 (e-mail: fstillma{at}jhsph.edu; adineva{at}jhsph.edu).
The prevalence of tobacco use among urban African American persons aged 18 to 24 years not enrolled in college is alarmingly high and a challenge for smoking cessation initiatives. Recent data from inner-city neighborhoods in Baltimore, Md, indicate that more than 60% of young adults smoke cigarettes. We sought to describe community-level factors contributing to this problem. Data from focus groups and surveys indicate that the sale and acquisition of "loosies" are ubiquitous and normative and may contribute to the high usage and low cessation rates. This article has been cited by other articles:
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