Kids steal hard-to-buy smokes

ATLANTA — A Texas study suggests more youngsters are stealing cigarettes since the state cracked down on the sale of tobacco to minors.

The findings, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggest that restricting access to cigarettes is not as simple as getting rid of vending machines and stiffening penalties for stores that sell to youngsters, said Terry Pechacek, a CDC expert on smoking.

In 1998 and 1999, Texas passed tougher laws against selling tobacco to minors, limited vending machines to bars and required stores to check the IDs of anyone who looks younger than 27.

The Texas survey interviewed students at 214 middle and high schools before and after the crackdown.

After the crackdown, fewer youngsters reported buying cigarettes from stores and vending machines, and more of them said they stole tobacco or got it from an older person.

Middle school smokers who reported buying cigarettes from a store dropped from 13.2 percent to 5.3 percent in 1999. Those who reported stealing cigarettes went from 8.3 percent to 12.3 percent.

High school students were less affected by the new laws, according to the study. About the same number of smokers — one in three — reported buying from stores before the laws were passed and a year later. A total of 3.8 percent reported stealing cigarettes in 1998, 3.3 percent in 1999.

Both middle school and high school students were also slightly more likely to borrow cigarettes from someone else or get them from an older person after the laws were passed.

The CDC said school prevention efforts and anti-smoking ads are just as important as restricted access in keeping children away from tobacco.

"Our efforts need to go beyond the straightforward restriction of sales," Pechacek said. "Most young smokers will shift to noncommercial sources for cigarettes, so we have to broaden our efforts to get the whole community involved."

About 10 percent of all underage smokers in the survey said older people gave them cigarettes.

"We can't just put this all on the retailers," Pechacek said.

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On the Net: CDC smoking site: www.cdc.gov/tobacco