Relayed
by GLOBALink - The International Tobacco-Control Network
Minors still
buying butts, study finds
by CATHY
NICOLL - The Daily News
Source: Halifax (NS) Daily News, 2002-05-18, via tobacco.org
Region:CANADA
Category: Teen Smoking/Youth Issues
URL:
http://www.canada.com/halifax/story.asp?id=%7B07F15B71-DD26-4820-A320-
C4210D1307E7%7D
It's getting
harder for teenagers in metro to buy cigarettes from stores
near their schools, but one in four retailers is still selling
to smokers younger than the legal age of 19.
A new study
of compliance among retailers in Halifax, done for Operation
I.D. School Zone, found that 75 per cent of store owners are
toeing the line, up from 66 per cent last fall. But that's down
from last spring, when the compliance rate was 84 per cent.
Research
teams with SES Canada Research Ltd. conducted the study March
14 and 15, visiting 136 retailers. The teams were made up of
one 17-year-old girl and one adult observer.
In 25 per
cent of the stores, clerks failed to ask the girl for photo
identification before selling her tobacco, Ann Viau, manager
of Operation I.D. School Zone, said yesterday.
The study
also found that male clerks were "significantly more likely"
not to ask for identification; female clerks were more conscientious.
Only 69 per cent of male clerks were in compliance with the
Tobacco Act, while female clerk compliance was 81 per
cent.
Also, younger
clerks were less likely to ask for identification than older
clerks. Compliance for clerks older than the minor, but less
than 25 years of age, was 49 per cent.
Viau said
peer pressure is a definite problem for young clerks. "How
do you say No' to the class president or the nice-looking football
player or the cheerleader?" she asked.
Also, when
stores are busy and clerks are faced with a long line of impatient
customers, they are less likely to ask for identification before
selling cigarettes, Viau said.
Operation
I.D. School Zone is a community-based program, funded 100 per
cent by Canada's tobacco manufacturers.
