Tobacco laws take effect
Published March 4, 1997
As he entered the University Supermarket, 1100 Locust St., Columbia resident Cody Rhodes was happy he looked every bit his 30 years.
After asking the clerk for two packs of cigarettes and handing a few dollars in change over the counter, Rhodes pocketed his newly acquired smokes without a hassle.
If Rhodes had been, or looked, just four years younger, that simple transaction would have been a little more time consuming. Now, according to new federal regulations, retailers must require customers who look under 27 years of age to produce a valid photo ID proving their age before they can purchase cigarettes or smokeless tobacco. Regular customers need only be carded once.
"The law seems excessive," Rhodes said. "Since the smoking age is 18, then why card [people] under 27?"
The Food and Drug Administration regulations, implemented Friday, set a $250 fine for stores failing to comply with requirements. Stores will receive a warning the first time they are found selling tobacco products to minors and will be fined for every subsequent violation.
"I think it's a good law," said University Supermarket assistant manager Joe Mefrakes. "That way we will try to sell tobacco to people who are legally able to buy it. We will not sell tobacco mistakenly to people who are under age."
Mefrakes, who rarely sees minors in his store, said his customers are not disturbed by the new law. Rather, he said, they take the initiative to have their IDs ready while in line.
However, Dee Jones, a cashier at the Break Time gas station and convenience store on 200 N. Providence Road, sees more than her share of underage customers attempting to buy cigarettes.
"Fourteen-, 15-year-olds come in here," Jones said. "I even have 12-year-olds coming in trying to purchase cigarettes."
Jones, who supports the new regulations, said most customers are incredulous when asked to produce an ID. But Jones said if her customers know stores are asking for IDs, they should already have them ready.
"A few people get mad," she said. "I really can't repeat what they say, but the usual reaction is like, 'what?' But I think [the law] is a good idea because some of them really need to be carded. I see [the law] working everyday, all day."
The regulations lead into a new era of FDA movements to curb teen-age tobacco use. In August, the FDA will ban most cigarette vending machines and regulate much of the tobacco advertising seen by teens. Next year, the FDA plans to ban the sponsorship of sporting events by tobacco brand names.