Amador County – A recent Youth Tobacco Purchase Survey in Amador County revealed that more merchants are paying attention when selling tobacco products. Of the 42 tobacco retailers surveyed, none were willing to sell tobacco products to youths, although 33 percent had the product on the counter or the sale rung up prior to asking for identification. In 2010, a similar survey resulted in a sales rate of 7 percent.

Amador County Public Health in early July announced recent results of the survey, in which “youth volunteers aged 14-16, accompanied by undercover law enforcement, canvassed the county’s retailers to assess the sales rate.”

Youths tried making purchases of “tobacco products at all types of retail establishments, including convenience stores, gas stations, liquor stores, grocery stores and drugstores, to determine how easily minors can purchase cigarettes and chewing tobacco.”

Selling tobacco to anyone under 18 years of age “is against the law. Tobacco retailers have the responsibility to check identification, verify age and post age-of-sale warning signs.”

As of January 2005, the self-service display of tobacco products is against the law. This includes cigarettes, chewing tobacco, bidis (products containing tobacco wrapped in temburni leaf or tendu leaf), pipe tobacco, roll your own tobacco, and any other product containing tobacco.

Diana Evensen, Project Director with Tobacco Reduction of Amador County said the group was “pleased with the results of the surveys. It demonstrates that a combination of merchant education and compliance activities can have a positive effect toward not selling tobacco to minors.”

Evensen said TRAC “wants to be sure that the rates remain low and that our local retailers have every opportunity to stay in compliance. TRAC will continue to offer retailer education at the request of any retailer in Amador County.”

Observational surveys were also conducted to determine whether stores had the required signage posted and 95 percent of local retailers in Amador County were in compliance.

Retailers must post Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Signs with the “1-800-5 ASK-4-ID” phone number at each cash register. Signs furnished by tobacco companies such as “We Card” and “It’s the Law” are not substitutes for those signs which are required by law.

To report illegal sales to minors, the general public can call “1-800-5 ASK-4-ID.” Public Health said “most people agree that kids and tobacco are a deadly combination. Statistics show that nearly 90 percent of the Californians who die each year from smoking related disease started their deadly habit before they were 18 years old.

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