Press Release

Union County Tobacco Sales To Youth Remain Low

A recent survey of tobacco sales to youth under the age of 18 conducted jointly by the Union County Health Department, Union County Sheriff’s Office and Consolidated Care Prevention Services resulted in a 10% sale rate to minors. Just four out of the forty locations checked violated this law during this random, unannounced survey. The sale rate has fluctuated since the start of these types of checks in 1996 in Union County, with the highest rate being 52% in 1996 and the lowest 7% in 2000.

Federal and Ohio Law prohibits the sale of tobacco products to persons under the age of 18 years old and clerks are expected to check the ID of anyone who looks to be under the age of 27 years old. Tobacco vending machines are required to be kept in plain view of the employee on duty and must be inaccessible to the public when the business is closed. A new Ohio law now prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from attempting to purchase, posses or use tobacco products as well.

This survey, like other programs around the state, is conducted with volunteer youth of 14, 15 or 16 years of age. These youth are honest about their age when asked and do not carry any ID during the program. Locations with vending machines are asked for vending machine change to draw attention to the youth’s presence and their intention to buy tobacco. Federal law also requires that that these programs take place to routinely measure youth sales rate of tobacco products in order to continue to receive funding for substance abuse programs.

“The purpose of the program now is to measure our current sales rate, educate our vendors, and assist them in training staff,” said Jayne Moreau of the Union County Health Department who coordinates the program. “We hope to make business owners and mangers aware when they have a problem complying with the law. We would like to credit the our lower sales to the merchants ability to train staff and concern when we bring it to their attention when there is a problem.”

The youth involved have made their own observations. Said one youth, “I was surprised at how close I got to buying a few times. A couple of the clerks rang me up and then asked me if I had ID. I didn’t expect to get the pouch of Red Men tobacco that I bought. I also didn’t expect the vending machine to be so easy.” Another youth said, “I thought some of the younger clerks were going to sell, but they didn’t. Some of the clerks were sorry they couldn’t sell any tobacco to us. A lot of the clerks looked at us like we were crazy. I think most of the clerks did pretty well at not selling any tobacco.”

Those locations that did not sell were congratulated on their success by Union County Sheriff John Overly. They will be highlighted in ads in local papers as encouragement and recognition.