By Ed Pearce, KOLO News Now
January 9- It is one of the most troubling public health challenges. In spite of laws prohibiting the sales of tobacco products to minors, underage use of these products continues to rise.
A new state law was written to address that problem.
The public health impacts have long been clear. Most adult smokers began before the age of 18, a sobering amount even younger. Sales of tobacco products to minors is illegal. Yet, more than 17 percent of Nevada high school students admit to being smokers.
“And we’re also seeing kids that are starting before the age of 13,” adds the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health’s Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, Sarah Motts.
In fact, more than 38 percent say it would be fairly to very easy to get cigarettes if they wanted some. That number gets even worse when it comes to electronic vaping products. Almost half of Nevada high school students are confident they could get them.
Clearly, current laws, compliance checks and educational efforts aren’t enough. So, the last legislature made it a little tougher for youthful buyers and negligent retailers.
The law now requires stores to use electronic scanners and software to verify the age and ID of buyers appearing to be younger than 40.
“So, this is just an extra measure to ensure that we are reducing that access for youth and young adults,” says Motts.
Most stores that sell cigarettes already have the scanning gear and the current law prohibits underage sales. So, if you’re a minor or young adult purchasing, you’ll be asked for ID, and it will be scanned.
The new law adds an extra $100 fine for the first-time offense of failing to use electronic verification of age and ID. And the compliance checks, essentially sting operations, will continue.
There is, we should note, incentive for making all this work.
Federal grants for drug rehab and education are tied to compliance goals, and the state is in danger of falling short of those goals.
