Only 6.2% of stores fail in tobacco sting

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer

Hawai'i remains among the states with the lowest rate of illegal tobacco sales to minors, as made evident by the state Health Department's annual sting operation.

Only 6.2 percent of the 209 Hawai'i stores targeted this year sold tobacco to underage customers participating in the survey, officials said yesterday. In 1996, the first year of the undercover stings, 45 percent of merchants sold tobacco to minors.

"It actually shows how committed our merchants are. They're really trying," said Elaine Wilson, chief of the Health Department's alcohol and drug abuse division.

Hawai'i is among fewer than 10 states with a noncompliance rate of less than 10 percent, Wilson said.

Maui County had the lowest rate of illegal tobacco sales, 3.7 percent. O'ahu was at 4.9 percent, Kaua'i at 9.1 percent and Hawai'i County at 14.3 percent.

The sting found that stores more likely to sell to minors included gas stations, small stores with only one cash register, and those that do not display signs about sales to minors.

Earlier this year, teams of youth volunteers ages 15 to 17, along with adult observers, visited 209 stores chosen at random across the state. The teens tried to buy cigarettes to determine how well the stores were complying with state tobacco laws. They found 13 stores that sold to minors.

"We have worked hard on this issue because we are concerned about the health of our children and youth," state health director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said.

The Health Department also has run an aggressive anti-smoking ad campaign, worked on merchant education and purchased newspaper ads with lists of stores that sell or don't sell to minors.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.