Cigarette sales to kids have fallen since 2000

No one had to tell Chelcia Frelo and Kristen Moeller that it’s more difficult for minors to buy tobacco in Spokane than it used to be.

The two smokers waiting for a bus at Browne and Riverside on Wednesday said they’re asked for identification regularly – and they’ve been legal for years.

“I’ve been buying cigarettes since I was 18 and I get carded more now,” said 25-year-old Moeller, a Marlboro fan.

“It is harder; I just tried at that gas station over there,” said Frelo, 22, who smokes Camel menthols. “I showed him my arm and said, ‘I just gave plasma and you have to be 18 to do that.’ “

No ID, no deal, the clerk said.

That’s just the kind of scenario seen more often in Spokane and across Washington, according to new state Health Department figures that showed that the number of retailers selling tobacco to minors has fallen by more than half since 2000.

Only about 5 percent of retailers tested in more than 560 compliance checks across the state sold tobacco to kids under age 18 in 2006, down from about 12 percent in 2000, according to Washington’s version of the Synar study, a federally required analysis.

That means, of course, that 95 percent of retailers tested did not sell tobacco to minors, up from about 88 percent.

“The reason it’s so important to us is that we know that the majority of adult smokers start as teens,” said Tim Church, a state spokesman.

The study uses a random selection of the state’s more than 8,000 tobacco retailers to test youth access to the substance each fiscal year.

In Spokane, only two of 45 retailers tested sold cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to people under age 18 last year. That appeared to continue a steady trend of compliance that mirrored state levels.

But a sudden spike in sales in the past few weeks has clouded local health officials’ optimism.

In December and January alone, teenagers were able to buy cigarettes five times in Spokane County, said Scott Roy, tobacco program coordinator for the Spokane Regional Health District.

That might not seem like a lot, considering that 24 retailers sold cigarettes or cans of smokeless to youngsters in 2004. But it would be alarming if the trend continued, he said.

“Now we have to figure out why that’s happening,” Roy said.

Part of the reason may be that health staffers have spent more time enforcing the state’s new indoor clean air act than targeting tobacco sales to kids, Roy said.

Previously, the health district conducted hundreds of compliance checks a year separate from the Synar study and those performed by the Washington state Liquor Control Board. Statewide, about $900,000 a year is spent on such checks, Church said.

Part of the reason also may be that local tests now use 17-year-olds instead of younger volunteers to try to buy tobacco.

“If you send a baby-faced 15-year-old, you can’t tell for sure,” said Roy. “If you send a 14-year-old, that’s not realistic.”

Roy stressed that the health district’s “youth operatives,” as they’re sometimes known, never deceive retailers. If asked, they must produce their own identification or state their age. However, using older volunteers probably provides more reliable results, he added.

“Younger kids bum cigarettes from their friends or steal them from their parents,” he said.

Smokers too young to buy also convince adults to buy cigarettes for them, said Church, who noted that it’s a growing worry, even in a state where smoking rates among young people have dropped by 48 percent in the past five years.

It’s illegal for adults to supply tobacco to minors and for minors to possess the drug. Clerks who sell to minors can face fines of $50 for the first infraction and $100 for additional violations. Stores that sell to kids can be fined $100 for the first violation, with fees that increase to more than $1,000 and include suspension of the owner’s tobacco license for additional incidents.

But local health officials said they would prefer to encourage compliance through education – and consistency, Roy said.

“This work needs to continue,” he said. “You better believe the high school kids know the places that sell.”