Word: florida
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...cigarette companies, kids like Randall were a chief consideration. A large chunk of the money will be used to combat teen smoking, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, jumped 73% from 1988 to 1996. So a lot of attention may soon be focused on Florida, home of the most aggressive, get-tough campaign against teen smoking...
...Florida passed a law penalizing minors under 18 caught buying, smoking or possessing tobacco. Funded by money from an earlier $11.3 billion state settlement with the tobacco industry, special police patrols now scour public parks, malls and other places where teens light up. A first offense carries a fine of $53 or eight hours of community service. Kids caught smoking a third time automatically lose their driver's license. Some 800 young smokers have been ticketed...
...Florida's smoking judge concedes that criminalizing tobacco use could make it more glamorous. "That's a major concern when you're dealing with people this age," he says. But even if 15% to 20% of kids are persuaded to quit, he contends, the program will be a success. "I don't know what works," he admits. "But I figure that for a teenager, losing your license is like the death penalty...
...many Florida teens are having trouble taking the crackdown seriously. "I got caught four times in one day," says Marissa LaMonica, 16, who has been smoking since she was 11. "It's really ridiculous." Others insist the new laws won't have any effect on them or their friends. "My parents were pissed off, but it really doesn't do anything," says Marie Hernandez, 16. "People just go behind a bush...
...year Charles Edward Merrill founded the firm we now know as Merrill Lynch & Co., he was 54 years old and had already lived an extraordinarily productive and visible life. A poor boy from the backwaters of Florida, Merrill was forced to leave college by lack of funds. But he schemed his way to Wall Street and made himself wealthy by the time...