August 25, 1999

Underage teens wishing to buy tobacco products might find other areas of the county an easier target than Oakdale, according to a recent survey.

Using students ages 14 through 17, Stanislaus County Health Services conducted a survey to see what percentage of merchants were willing to illegally sell cigarettes, chewing tobacco or cigars to minors.

The teenagers would enter randomly selected establishments and attempt to make purchases while surveyed by an adult chaperone entering the store separately.

Of 17 attempts in Oakdale, only one merchant was willing to conduct such a transaction. Countywide, there were 19 sales almost completed in 155 attempts (12 percent).

No purchases were actually made since the teens were told to pretend they didn't have enough cash to complete the sales.

The statistics compared favorably to a similar survey in 1995 when there was 57 successful attempts out of 105 tries (54 percent). Individual town statistics were not kept that year, said Heather Gruenig Duvall, project director for Stanislaus County Tobacco Education.

"We did what is known as stratification this year where we took a list of possible tobacco retailers and separated them out by area," she said. "If there were less than nine stores, we hit all of them. We did random samples in other communities so we could hit every town and get a county-wide sample."

Duvall credits tobacco education for a lot of the decrease in sales to youth.

"The norms have changed around tobacco use," she said. "People are more aware of the problems associated with it because of prevention efforts and more kids are not taking up smoking because of the health risks."

Highest sales were recorded in Salida where three of four clerks sold to the undercover minors.

No sales were recorded in Crows Landing, Denair, Hickman, Hughson, Keyes, Waterford and Westley, which ranged from one to six stores sampled. Seven of 54 (13 percent) establishments in Modesto were willing to sell and two of 10 (20 percent) approached in Riverbank rang-up the transactions.

Six of the 19 sales county-wide were conducted after the young buyers were asked to show identification and failed to, according to survey statistics.

The purchases included 15 sales of cigarettes, three of chewing tobacco and one cigar.

Results show young males were more likely than females to make successful tobacco purchases, and the older they were, the more successful their attempts as the highest number of sales were to 17-year-olds. No tobacco products were sold to 14-year-olds.

The purpose of the survey was to set a baseline rate of tobacco sales within the county and no criminal actions are to be taken, said David T. Jones, director of marketing and development for county health services.

Instead, merchants will be contacted and a tobacco education training session held for all merchants in late fall, said Duvall.

Had this been an actual sting operation as sometimes conducted by the county sheriff and local police departments, businesses caught selling to minors faced fines up to $300 for a first violation under California's Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) act of 1994.

Used by permission of the Oakdale Leader.