State tobacco sales to minors at new low
Illegal sales to minors cut more than 30% in 8 years

By Nicole Brooks 331-4232 | nbrooks@heraldt.com
February 19, 2009

Indiana sales of tobacco products to minors have reached a new low, according to an Indiana University group that helps nab clerks selling tobacco to youth.

Tobacco sales to youth under age 18 occurred during only 7.2 percent of the more than 8,000 unannounced inspections last year, said Aaron Jones with the Indiana Prevention Resource Center, in the IU School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

“Zero percent would be ideal,” he said. “We never expect to achieve that just because of the turnover rate,” and businesses having to train new employees on the law regarding tobacco sales. Any rate less than 10 percent is good for the state, according to Jones.

In Indiana, it is illegal for a store clerk or a retail establishment to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18.

The resource center teams up with Indiana State Excise Police to carry out the mission of TRIP, the Tobacco Retailer Inspection Program, up and running since 2000.

Youths working with TRIP go into stores and try to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products, Jones said. They are inconspicuously accompanied by an excise officer, not in uniform, and another adult. The two older team members usually go into the store first and find a spot where they can hear and see the action. The youth’s safety is paramount, he said. They never carry ID, and do not lie about their age if asked by the clerk.

“If they sell the tobacco to our youth, then the store and the clerk are both cited,” Jones said. The officer fills out a violation notice right then and there, informing the clerk of the possible penalties. The notice is then forwarded to state excise police.

The first violation comes with a $200 fine, Jones said, and TRIP reinspects within one month every store that’s violated the law. Fines can go up to $1,000 by the fourth violation.

Jones said the state’s aggressive education on the law, including a new online manual and quiz for retail clerks, is partly responsible for the downward trend — except for a slight increase in 2007 — recorded since 2000.

When a clerk does attempt to sell tobacco to a underage person and is questioned as to why he or she either didn’t ask for ID or ignored the shopper’s age, “It’s rarely ever that they don’t know what the law is,” Jones said. “We’ve done a good job informing people of the law.”

Often clerks apologize, he said, and say they were busy and just didn’t take the time to card the youth.

When TRIP began its inspections in 2000, 40 percent of retailers were found to have sold tobacco to minors.