HISTORY

In August of 1997, the state of Florida won a landmark victory in the war against the tobacco industry. $11.3 billion dollars was a result of the settlement. (the amount has since then been increased to $13 billion dollars) From the settlement, a revolution begun. 

A new organization was born and was put in the hands of Florida's youth, and that organization would be called SWAT - Students Working Against Tobacco. This program is the first in the country to be funded by the tobacco industry's money and has the best proven youth tobacco prevention program in the country.

From March 29th - April 1st 1998, teens from all over the state came together in Haines City for the first Teen Tobacco Summit. From that, SWAT and TRUTH would now be known as the youth - led movement of Florida. It is youth led and youth driven. The proposed campaign design was shown to some 600 middle/high school students at this event. The teens helped define the program based on a peer-to-peer approach.

Summertime 1998, the members of SWAT took a train from Pensacola to Miami, spreading the message of TRUTH across the state.  This 'TRUTH Train' was an awesome undertaking bringing the message of SWAT to the youth of Florida. One goal of the TRUTH Train was to combat the glamorization and normalization of tobacco in Hollywood. The train stopped in 13 cities and brought huge events and concerts with it, featuring artists like N'Sync, and Montell Jordan.

On the train and at these events, many youth signed petitions and wrote postcards urging their favorite Hollywood stars to portray the use of tobacco realistically in any of their future movies. As a result of that successful campaign, some of the stars that worked with us were: Rider Strong (Boy Meets World), Antonio Sabato Jr., Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the teenage witch), Tommy Ford (Martin and New York Undercover), and Montana McGlynn (MTV's Real World Boston).

Another ongoing project both locally and statewide is "Operation SWAT". This is an activity where SWAT members survey various stores in their neighborhoods that sell tobacco and record the placement of tobacco products as well as tobacco advertising. After the surveys are tallied and the stats are run, the SWAT members then present the results to their local government councils and urge them to create new or address old laws that relate to tobacco placement and advertising. To date, eighteen counties have been successful in passing product placement ordinances while several other counties are in various stages of "Operation SWAT" and are working toward success.

Teen Summit 2 took place February 25-28, 1999 at the Innisbrook resort in Palm Harbor, Fl. Celebrity appearances were made by Antonio Sabato Jr., Leslie Nuchow, Divine, Tommy Ford and various stars from MTV's Real World. These stars gave testimonials to SWAT about why they pledge support to the TRUTH campaign and why they signed the anti-tobacco pledge. The teens attended youth empowerment sessions where they received training on how to make SWAT a success in their counties. The evening events included music performed by the hit R&B group Divine, a dance and speeches by special guest speakers such as Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, Commissioner of Education Tom Gallagher, and Secretary of Health Dr. Robert Brooks.

At this summit, the first Lawton Chiles Scholarships for youth were awarded to those who showed exemplary service in their efforts in fighting Big Tobacco. These scholarships were for college and included a 4-year award, a 2 year award, as well as a monetary award that was to be used for college. During this time, the College Advocacy initiative STRIKE began, which is a grassroots organization at the college student level. It is run by college students and is based loosely on SWAT. 

During November of 1999, SWAT performed a statewide initiative called "Big Tobacco on the run", which was an initiative in which SWAT gave a knockout blow to the tobacco companies. SWAT focused on tobacco ads in magazines, specifically those with 10% youth readership (over 1 million youth readers),  a pervasive and often overlooked source of tobacco propaganda. Youth pulled over 6,000 advertisements and sent them back to Big Tobacco. As a result, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company agreed to meet with SWAT Board Of Directors members on November 6, 1999. At that meeting we presented them with guidelines and are still working towards a  final outcome. "Big Tobacco on the run" concluded with 5 regional events, including entertainment, advocacy tables, rides and food.

Summit 3 was held in Orlando, Florida June 13-16, 2000. Many celebrities were there including Jeremy London, Christy Turlington, and various MTV celebrities. The summit kicked off the third year of the program with excitement and a renewed spirit.

The next fall, SWAT attacked the tobacco companies "feel-god" campaign. This lead way for the campaign "Put your money where your mouth is", which collected 35,000 signatures which were mailed back to Philip Morris along with a video message. We have yet to receive a reply.

SWAT without boarders was SWAT's next campaign, focusing on big tobacco's deliberate attack on the rest of the world. Many things that are illegal here, they are allowed to do in other countries. Each county researched background info on different countries around the world. The campaign concluded at the 4th Teen summit 2001, where  there were lots of ideas and brainstorming. There in Orlando, the students made a huge banner to be mailed back to the tobacco industry with the Top ten international guidelines for the tobacco industry.

In the fall of 2001, SWAT slowed down due to terrorist attacks on the USA. All state programs were concerned about funding issues, SWAT was not exempt from the concern. At this time the students kicked off "Educate to Legislate". Students, parents, and community members wrote letters, made phone calls, and visited their legislators to inform them of SWAT's successfulness.  SWAT was still funded by the end of a special session that Governor Jeb Bush called to reassess the state budget.

The next spring, SWAT focused on an initiative that was about Secondhand smoke. The students went to a SWAT camp where they brainstormed ideas and began to work on reducing SHS exposure in their counties. .

In June of 2002, Teen tobacco summit: Category 5 came.

In 2003 came a campaign like no other: The UNDERESTIMATED campaign. This campaign was to show Florida that its youth are not to be UNDERESTIMATED anymore. This spawned the work of a 'Diversity Initiatives Training', which was in Orlando.

On June 5-8 2003 came SWAT Teen Tobacco Summit 6: SWAT Uprising. This was the end of the 6th year of SWAT and the beginning of a more challenging 7th year. Faced with tough challenges, the students of SWAT press on for a more powerful and prosperous future of SWAT.

SWAT's history is still being written, do you want to be apart of it? Then join SWAT today!