Fewer tobacco products are being sold to teens

Jean Reid Norman and Mary Manning

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

Nevada is one of seven states that have significantly reduced cigarettes and other tobacco products sold to teenagers, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said Wednesday.

Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were the other states named.

The states were lauded for bringing their rate of retailers found selling tobacco to minors to 20 percent or less. Nevada reported a rate of 18.3 percent last year, compared with 22.9 percent in 2001.

"It means that youth are not buying at the rate they had been," said Charlene Hirst, the state Health Division's manager of the tobacco prevention and education program. "More important is that retailers truly understand that you must card. No matter how young or old they look to you, they could still be 17 or 18 years old."

But the news, while good for Nevada, did not put it anywhere near the top nationally.

The survey done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed that 31 states and the District of Columbia had a retailer-violation rate of no more than 15 percent in 2002. Only five other states were above 20 percent, and Alaska, at 30.2 percent, was alone in failing to meet its target.

States that fail to meet the targets can lose federal money.

The news reflected a decline in the percent of adults smoking in Nevada. The state had the highest percentage of smokers in the nation, 36 percent, in 1990, according to the nonprofit United Health Foundation. This year the rate was 26 percent.

Thompson made the announcement Wednesday at the 2003 National Conference on Tobacco and Health in Boston.

Nevada officials were pleased with the results.

"I'm thrilled with the results," John Albrecht, senior deputy attorney general in charge of the tobacco reduction program, said by phone from Boston, where he was attending the meeting.

Maria Azzarelli, a health educator for youth tobacco control for the Clark County Health District, was also pleased, but cautioned, "Rates are going down, but still in Nevada we have a problem."

Still, she and the state health division's Hirst focused on the improvement.

"For me it demonstrates that if there are fewer youth being sold cigarettes, perhaps there are fewer youth trying to buy cigarettes," Azzarelli said. "Perhaps the social norms are changing."

That will bode well for future studies that measure smoking in Nevada, Hirst said.

"If we can keep those younger kids from buying, when they reach that 18- to 24-year-old bracket, they won't already be smokers," she said. "It's less likely they'll start."

State and local agencies try to keep the rate of teen smokers down by combining education programs with enforcement.

The attorney general's office handles the enforcement and educating retailers. One investigator in Northern Nevada and another in Southern Nevada each visit hundreds of outlets each year, Albrecht said.

"Every outlet is checked between two and three times a year," Albrecht said.

There are 600 citations issued annually for violations, with fines up to $500 for each violation, he said.

Tom Sargent, spokesman for Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval, said that minors volunteer to go into stores in sting operations to try to buy tobacco.

In addition the investigators also visit stores to educate owners, managers and clerks, he said.

Azzarelli's office educates through a youth movement called XPOZ, which models itself after the National Truth Campaign, a national media campaign to combat tobacco advertisement.

"We preach, 'Don't fall prey to the tobacco industry,"' she said.

Hirst, who quit smoking 19 years ago, said it's important to stop teens from taking up the habit.

"Those who have been through it know how tough quitting is," she said.