Youth Tobacco Project announces grants for smoking prevention research

By Lorraine Cichowski
VCU News Services

The Virginia Youth Tobacco Project, in conjunction with VCU's Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, is accepting applications until May 27 for grants to fund research on the causes and prevention of tobacco use by youths.

The grant program, which is open to all public universities and colleges in Virginia, hopes to attract new faculty researchers to work on the problems of youth smoking. The maximum amount to be awarded will be $40,000, for a research project up to 18 months.

For information, please contact J. Randy Koch, Ph.D., executive director of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies at 804-828-8633, or email jrkoch@vcu.edu. A grant application is available at www.vytp.vcu.edu.

The Virginia Youth Tobacco Project, coordinated by VCU, is a coalition of Virginia universities originated by the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation to study why young people begin to smoke and why some become addicted to nicotine in tobacco products. The team, which also includes researchers from the University of Virginia, James Madison University, Virginia Tech and George Mason University, also is evaluating which anti-tobacco programs work most effectively.

The project is funded by the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation, which was created by the General Assembly in 1999 to distribute part of the money Virginia will receive over 25 years from tobacco product manufacturers under a national Master Settlement Agreement with 47 states.