Most Clark County Retailers Refuse to Sell Tobacco to Minors

Source from:  clark.wa.gov VANCOUVER, WA 7/18/2007 07/23/2007

Clark County tobacco retailers are helping to discourage tobacco use among teens, according to compliance checks conducted by Clark County Public Health and Public Health - Seattle & King County between December 2006 and June 2007. Of the 233 retailers that were checked by county staff, 26 or about 11 percent, sold tobacco to a minor who accompanied the county employee. This is well within the federal law that requires that the sales rate to minors be 20 percent or less. The Tobacco Prevention and Education Program at Clark County Public Health conducts random tobacco compliance checks throughout the year, as do agents with Washington State Liquor Control. In Washington State, selling tobacco to a minor results in a fine for retailers of $100 for the first offense. The fine for a clerk is $50. Repeat offenders are fined up to $1,500 and may have their license to sell tobacco products suspended. "Sales to minors occur because clerks fail to verify that a teen is 18 years or older. Either clerks don't ask for identification, or they incorrectly calculate the teen's age after looking at the identification," said Long Vue, a health educator with Clark County Public Health. The statewide smoking ban is helping to change social norms concerning tobacco use in Washington State. The law prohibits smoking in all work places and indoor public places, and within 25 feet of doors, operable windows and air intake vents. This law and similar bans in other states make it more difficult to find places where it is legal to smoke, and have influenced thousands of smokers to quit smoking. Challenges for health educators remain, however. As retailers become better at refusing to sell tobacco to kids, teens are now obtaining tobacco from friends, family, and strangers at higher rates than ever-even though state law prohibits family members from giving tobacco to minors under 18 years of age. Enditem