Talk:Students Working Against Tobacco

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I'm a former member of SWAT and while I will second this as an accurate assessment of SWAT history and current affairs, it is definitely one-sided and not written from a neutral point of view. Nevertheless, SWAT was what it was--grassroots and effective as well as empowering for the youth leaders who used to head it up. The situation that has come about is indeed unfortunate but par for the course in the bureaucracy that is our government.

Examples of non-NOPV that need to be addressed: "One student, Joe Scarfone, rallied students and even one of the all-star lawyers that won the Big Tobacco lawsuit in the first place to sue Gov. Jeb Bush for misallocation of funding."

"Needless to say"

"Despite the obvious correlation between SWAT and the decline in youth smoking, the Florida Department of Health as well as the Centers for Disease Control refuse to recognize youth-led tobacco prevention efforts as valid."

"In spite of SWAT's enormously successful efforts and the wishes of Florida's voters, the Florida Department of Health refuses to provide funding for a statewide SWAT program and has dismantled the most successful youth anti-tobacco program in history."

The bias and one-sidedness is obvious. I will address this if I have time in the future; otherwise, someone else is welcome to go at it! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Newswithapulse (talk • contribs) 00:33, 23 April 2008 (UTC)