Tobacco sales to minors in 97 US and Canadian communities

Abstract

Objective -To establish a US and Can adian baseline of the willingness of mer chants to sell tobacco products to minors and to encourage improved compliance with laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors. Design - A sampling of 2337 retail tobac co merchants in 93 US and four Canadian communities were tested with 15- and 16 year-olds attempting to purchase cigar ettes. Merchants in 11 US cities were retes ted 12 to 18 months later. Intervention - City, state, provincial, and national governments were notified of the results. Main outcome measures - Cigarette sales to minors. Results -The minors were able to pur chase cigarettes at 77 % of US and 93 % of Canadian stores in the cities sampled. Cities with tobacco ordinances (n = 11) did better (average purchase rate = 49 %) than those without (83 %). Cities in states with laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors under 16 and 17 years old tended to do worse and those with a 19 year-old limit tended to do better com pared to those with an 18-year-old limit. Four city governments started or mod ified compliance check programmes be cause of the survey findings. Conclusion - It appears that merchants in very few communities in the US or Canadian cities tested are adequately complying with laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors. Low-cost tobacco pur chase surveys were of some value in stimulating enforcement, but change re quires additional municipal, state and/or federal legislation and systematic and effective enforcement efforts.