Key Findings: Youth Access

View the State Rankings for Youth Access.

Tobacco use is a disease of the young. Every day 5,500 young people start smoking for the first time; close to 3,000 young people become established daily smokers.18 Lifelong tobacco use starts early. Alarmingly, children are beginning to experiment with tobacco use at younger ages than ever before. About 80 percent
of all smokers begin use before age 18.19 The earlier a smoker starts, the more likely he or she is to die from tobacco use. Enactment and enforcement of policies to restrict the sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors has been shown to be effective in comprehensive tobacco programs. Parents, teachers, community leaders and the public agree that minors should not have access to tobacco products. Even the tobacco industry purports to share this view. Nevertheless, that same industry aggressively and consistently fights meaningful efforts to enact and enforce youth access laws at the federal, state and local levels. Many studies have found that by making it as difficult and inconvenient as possible for kids to get their hands on cigarettes reduces the number of youngsters who smoke cigarettes. It also reduces the number of cigarettes smoked by those who are regular smokers. About half of all young smokers report they usually buy their cigarettes directly from retailers or vending machines, or by giving money to others to purchase the cigarettes for them.
Increasing cigarette prices and minimizing the number of retailers who are willing to illegally sell cigarettes
to kids has been shown to reduce smoking by young people.20

Youth Access: Bright Spots

Seven states received an A in youth access. Maine has a number of youth access laws, including restrictions on vending machine access, a prohibition on self-service tobacco displays, and a requirement for a photo ID from anyone who appears to be under the age of 27. It has a 93% compliance rate among retailers for refusing tobacco sales to minors, one of the highest compliance rates in the nation. 21 The state’s youth access laws, comprehensive tobacco prevention program, smokefree laws and its $1.00 cigarette excise tax have contributed to encouraging trends in youth smoking in the state. Between 1997 and 2001 Maine saw a 36 percent drop in the rate of smoking among high school students, a decline of 45 percent in the number of high school students not asked to show proof of age when buying cigarettes and a 72 percent increase in the number of high school smokers who have tried to quit.22

In Texas, the legislature has enacted a youth access bill that requires the placement of tobacco products
behind the counter, requires strong penalties for clerks and retail managers/owners who sell tobacco products to minors, and places restrictions on tobacco advertising. In Rhode Island, sales to minors now carries penalties as large as $1,500 and a license suspension of 90 days. California has a near-ban on tobacco vending machines, restrictions on the selfservices sales of cigarettes, an enforcement program for reducing illegal tobacco sales to minors and many other state laws.

Vermont bans cigarette vending machines and restricts free distribution of cigarettes, has random unannounced inspections, graduated penalties or fines on retailers and a statewide enforcement agency. Idaho restricts vending machines, bans free distribution of cigarettes, has random unannounced inspections, graduated penalties or fines on retailers and has a statewide enforcement agency. New York has increasing penalties for illegal sales of cigarettes to minors, prohibits self-service display sales of tobacco products and bans the sale of bidis to minors.

Youth Access: Work To Do

Twenty-eight states received an F in youth access. Because youth access is an important component of
a comprehensive tobacco policy, these states are missing out on vital strategies for curbing youth smoking. States must do more than just enact strong youth access laws; they need to enforce those laws. Enforcement of statutes is critical to keeping tobacco from children. (View Appendix B: The Youth Access Chart.)

Youth Access: Policy Goals

The American Lung Association recommends youth access laws that:

• Monitor tobacco retail outlets, with a graduated series of penalties to the retailer for sales of tobacco to minors, culminating in license suspension or revocation for repeated violations;
• Authorize state or local governments to carry out random, unannounced inspections of retail outlets,
  including authorization for minors’ participation in carrying out such inspections;
• Eliminate tobacco vending machines;
• Eliminate sales of single cigarettes or “loosies”;
• Prohibit or strictly regulate the sale of bidis (beedies)23;
• Require that all tobacco products be displayed only behind the sales counter; and
• Prohibit distribution of free tobacco product samples.
  

Key Findings continued...