ABSTRACT
Despite a membership base primarily concerned with clean indoor air, the leadership of Association of Non-smokers-Minnesota (ANSR) latched onto the newly discovered issue of youth access to tobacco in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ANSR became involved in hearings held by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS), which was charged with licensing family day-care operations, in the late 1980s. The second major single-issue group in the tobacco control movement in Minnesota is the Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society-2000. The coalition is—as the name indicates—a statewide coalition of organizations opposed to smoking. It formed in 1984 as an outgrowth of concerns and efforts by members of the Minnesota Medical Association. The Smoke-Free Coalition relies on several sources of funding. The second organization, the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society-2000, provides an excellent example of both the strengths and weaknesses of building on the infrastructure of health organizations.
