MINNEAPOLIS -- A study published by the Journal of School Health titled “Usual Source of Cigarettes and Alcohol Among US High School Students” confirms what many in the retail tobacco industry already know; namely, that the vast majority of underage youth who smoke cigarettes obtain them from sources other than retail stores. What the study fails to do is recommend measures to reduce the supply of cigarettes from the “social sources” that minors rely on to obtain cigarettes.
The study examined the usual source of cigarettes among those youth younger than 18 who were current cigarette smokers. Based on high school student responses, the two most common sources of cigarettes for underage youth were borrowing or “bumming” cigarettes from someone else (27.7%) and giving someone else money to buy cigarettes (27.3%). Other sources included buying cigarettes in a store (14.1%), having someone older than 18 give them cigarettes (10.1%), taking cigarettes from a family member or store (6.1%), buying cigarettes in a vending machine (1.3%), or getting cigarettes some other way (13.5%).
When analyzing this data in total, 85.9% of underage youth obtained cigarettes from sources other than buying cigarettes in a retail store. Many of these other sources are known as “social sources” since they involve getting cigarettes from, or with the assistance of, family members and friends.
The study goes onto conclude that “to reduce smoking…it will be necessary to address both the supply and demand of cigarettes….” One method recommended in the study to reduce the demand side of the equation is to reduce cigarette sales to underage minors. However, retailers take the job of preventing cigarette and tobacco sales to minors very seriously and have routinely demonstrated a successful compliance rate above 90% in FDA-sponsored nationwide compliance checks on retailers that sell tobacco products.
While the study goes onto recommend that demand for cigarettes by underage youth can be reduced through parental communication regarding smoking, school-based tobacco use prevention programs, price increases, restricted cigarette advertising directed at youth, media campaigns, and indoor smoking restrictions, the study does not address how to reduce the supply of cigarettes from social sources.
Until there is a proactive effort to reduce the supply of cigarettes to underage youth from social sources, the problem of smoking by minors will continue. Adopting further regulations and restrictions on retailers in an attempt to reduce underage youth smoking will be minimally effective given that 86% of youth under the age of 18 who do smoke cigarettes obtain cigarettes from sources other than retail stores.
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