Tobacco youth buy rate in Nevada cut in half

Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has announced that the percentage of stores that sold cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors has dropped to 8.2% in July.

This is the lowest monthly buy rate for the year 2004, dropping from 15.2% in January 2004. Approximately 600 stores were checked for compliance statewide during July.

“The Nevada retail community continues to do its part in reducing youth smoking by refusing to sell cigarettes to minors,” said Chief Deputy Attorney General John Albrecht. “Our part is to educate and enforce, but significant reductions in the underage buy rate are virtually impossible without the concern and cooperation of the retail outlets.”

Under a federal law passed in 1992, states must enforce laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors. In 1995, the Nevada Legislature assigned this responsibility to the Attorney General’s office. Under the program, each of the 2,000 stores that sell tobacco in Nevada are checked for compliance three times per year, and about 30% of all Nevada stores give their clerks a reward for passing a tobacco compliance check.

Compliance checks are conducted in this way: a youth between the ages of 15 and 17 and one-half years enters a store to purchase cigarettes or smokeless tobacco. If asked for an ID the youth presents his or her own ID showing the youth is under 18 years of age. If tobacco is sold, the clerk or the store owner receives a citation. If no tobacco is sold, the clerk receives a congratulatory card from the Attorney General.

Under no circumstances is any misleading information given to a clerk during a compliance check: if asked their age, the youth states their age truthfully, and only the youth's own valid ID is used. Below are youth buy rates since December 2003:

• December - 13.0%
• January - 15.2%
• February - 9.6%
• March - 11.8%
• April - 9.5%
• May - 10.5%
• June - 10.8%
• July - 8.2%