By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, May 25
The Institute of Medicine is calling for stricter federal and state controls on tobacco, including its sale to minors.
Among its recommendations in a
new report
, the institute said that the federal Food and Drug Administration should be given regulatory control over the manufacture, distribution, use and marketing of tobacco products, especially to minors. It also suggested tighter restrictions on those who sell tobacco.
“The retail environment should be redesigned to effectuate the public health goals of discouraging tobacco use and reducing the numbers of people with tobacco-related disease,” the report stated. “To achieve this transformation of the retail environment, Congress and state legislatures should enact legislation regulating the retail point of sale of tobacco products.”
The Institute is affiliated with the National Academies for Science and is a non-profit, independent group that provides analysis and guidance to U.S. policymakers.
Officials at two Kansas state agencies and tobacco retailers already are gearing up for two new programs, funding for which was approved by this year”s Legislature, to cut back on illegal sales to minors.
A total of $500,000 was appropriated for the fiscal year beginning July 1 for a Cigarette and Tobacco Enforcement unit and to contract with a private company to do independent checks of retailers to see if they are complying with laws regulating sales to minors.
“We”re trying to put dedicated enforcement of cigarette and tobacco laws in Kansas, more so than we”ve had the opportunity to do in the past,” said Mike Padilla, chief of enforcement for the Kansas Department of Revenue”s Alcoholic Beverage Control unit, which also polices tobacco sales.
State efforts
The Cigarette and Tobacco Enforcement unit was created through a joint agreement with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and the Department of Revenue”s Alcoholic Beverage Control division, said Kelly Peak, director of prevention for SRS, which will fund the programs. An official announcement about the unit is expected in June.
“The tobacco enforcement unit will work with all licensed tobacco retailers to ensure compliance with tobacco sale regulations, and underage sales to minors,” Peak said.
Compliance rates are tied to the federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant, a $12 million source of funding. The federal government can withhold up to 40 percent of the grant, if states fail to meet the 20 percent compliance rates, reducing the substance abuse treatment and prevention services the state can offer. Tobacco sales to minors are regulated under the federal Synar Amendment, which sets the target compliance rate and criteria states must meet to receive the block grant.
Kansas missed its target in 2005, when 38 percent of minors who attempted to buy cigarettes succeeded. The government assessed the state a penalty of $2.3 million, which was obligated toward prevention programs.
The tobacco unit will continue those prevention programs, which are run by SRS regional prevention centers. The centers” “Reward and Reminder” program works with willing young people who test store clerks by attempting to buy tobacco products and educates the clerks about tobacco laws. The unit will have law enforcement powers and will be able to fine clerks who fail to comply
and reward those who refuse to sell without checking a valid ID.
The state”s 20 Alcoholic Beverage Control agents now work with the Reward and Reminder program. The new unit will have more agents able to complete the checks, Padilla said.
Private-sector help
The BARS Program, a private Denver-based company, is expected to sign a $100,000 contract with SRS to also do compliance checks of retailers.
The Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association of Kansas asked the Legislature to include funding for The BARS Program, which will do about 5,000 compliance checks a year, said Tom Palace, executive director of the association.
Kansas is the second state to contract with The BARS Program, said David Gaudet, the company”s president. The BARS Program also does compliance checks for alcohol retailers; the other state-based contract was with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Unlike the state”s Reward and Reminder program, the company”s “mystery shoppers” do not have law enforcement powers. They track the outcome of attempted purchases of tobacco and then report that information to the company”s clients
in this case, SRS.
The company already does compliance checks for some Kansas tobacco retailers, including ConocoPhillips and 7-11. But the state doesn”t have access to the information BARS provides its private clients.
Under the contract with SRS, the company will do selective checks in areas chosen by the state and share the compliance rates by designated county and city. County officials will also have access to their own county”s data, Gaudet said.
“The state gets the data they need, the retailer gets the data they need,” he said. “All stakeholders get the information of value to them.”
Though it”s a different procedure than the state”s tobacco enforcement unit will use, the goal is the same, Padilla said.
“It”s all of our hope to improve compliance for the state with Synar,” he said. “If The BARS Program can help contribute to that in a positive way, it”s certainly something that would be desirable for the state.”
-Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.