Youth Access Tobacco Enforcement Program 10th Annual Report October 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007 TobaccoSales To Youth New York State Department of Health Questions or requests for additional copies of this report: New York State Department of Health Bureau of Community Environmental Health & Food Protection Tobacco Enforcement Program Flanigan Square, Room 515 547 River Street Troy, NY 12180-2216 Telephone: (518) 402-7600 or 1-(800) 458-1158, ext. 27600 Fax: (518) 402-7609 This annual report of the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) Youth Access Tobacco Enforcement Program is prepared in accordance with Section 1399-kk of the Public Health Law and is submitted by the Commissioner of Health to the Governor and the Legislature. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks go to the local health department enforcement officers, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and the youth who participated in the access compliance check surveillance program. For more than 10 years, these dedicated agencies and individuals have been the leaders in the state’s effort to increase retailer compliance with the public health law in our communities. Staff of the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food Protection, Tobacco Enforcement Program prepared this report with data provided from the local enforcement officers, other state agencies and programs within the Department of Health. The New York State Department of Health’s Tobacco Control Program and the New York State Education Department supplied information regarding tobacco use and trends among minors. The State Department of Taxation and Finance provided registration and revenue data. The Department of State’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control supplied data regarding fires. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 PROGRAM OVERVIEW………………………………………………………………………. 3 PROGRAM PURPOSE ………………………………………………………………………… 4 STATUS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS …………………………………………………….… 4 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………………… 9 APPENDIX 1: Number and Type of Investigations, October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007 APPENDIX 2: Penalized Tobacco Retailers and Vendors, October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007 APPENDIX 3: Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Comparison – NYS Results for 2003, 2005 and 2007 APPENDIX 4: 2006 National Youth Tobacco Survey - New York State Results APPENDIX 5: Allocation of Tobacco Enforcement Program Funding, October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007 APPENDIX 6: New York State Fire Reporting System Tobacco Related Fire Statistics, October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007 PREFACE The purpose of New York’s Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act is to aid in reducing morbidity and mortality caused by tobacco use by reducing children’s access to cigarettes and other tobacco products. It has been well documented that most smokers begin before they are 18 years old and half before they are 15. Many people who start smoking as youth find it nearly impossible to quit during their lifetime. For more than 10 years, state and local enforcement officials have been increasingly successful at reducing youth access to tobacco products and improving retailer compliance with the Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act. The Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act requires retailers to obtain positive proof that the person buying cigarettes is over the age of 18. Retailers found in violation of this law are subject to fines, and loss of their tobacco registration and lottery license for repeated violations. The law also limits the location of vending machines and limits the venues in which free tobacco products can be distributed. These enforcement measures are aimed at making tobacco products less accessible to minors, and are a part of the State's $85 million comprehensive anti-smoking program. This Annual Report is prepared by the Tobacco Enforcement Program, located in the New York State Department of Health’s Center for Environmental Health. The report covers the time period of October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007, and includes the following information: Number of tobacco compliance checks that were conducted; Names and addresses of tobacco vendors who sold tobacco products to underage youth and were penalized; New York State Results of the 2006 National Youth Tobacco Survey; Tobacco sales data from the State Department of Taxation and Finance; and Tobacco-related fire injury data from the Department of State’s Fire Reporting System. During the 2006 – 2007 program year, state and local enforcement officers conducted 37,814 inspections of tobacco retailers to assess compliance with the State’s Public Health Law (Adolescent Tobacco use Prevention Act). Of these inspections, more than 28,000 included unannounced compliance checks where minors attempted to purchase tobacco under the direct supervision of the enforcement official. Nearly 10,000 additional visits were made to determine compliance with Department of Health signage requirements and Department of Taxation and Finance registration requirements, to educate retailers about the Public Health Law, to verify vending machine supervision and location compliance, and/or to investigate complaints. Three thousand two hundred ten enforcement actions were taken for sales of tobacco products to minors and more than $1.6 million in fines were assessed. In the last 10 years (1997-2007) state grants totaling more than $35 million were awarded to local enforcement officials to implement the Tobacco Enforcement Program, which resulted in a decline in the rate of non-compliance by retailers from 19 percent to 7.6 percent. From 1997 to 2007, more than $21.6 million in fines have been levied against 29,920 retailers for selling tobacco to minors. The Department of Taxation and Finance has suspended the registrations of 1,462 tobacco retailers as a result of multiple enforcement actions for selling tobacco to underage youth. There were also 386 lottery agent licenses suspended for six months for multiple sales to minors. Of the 375,968 compliance inspections that have taken place during the 10 years, 263,050 were conducted with the assistance of minors attempting to purchase tobacco products. 1 Questions concerning this report should be referred to the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food Protection, Tobacco Enforcement Program at (518) 402-7600 or 1-800-458-1158, extension 2-7600. 2 New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Center for Environmental Health Youth Access Tobacco Enforcement Program Annual Report October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007 Program Overview In September 2007, the New York State Department of Health completed its tenth program year of youth tobacco access enforcement statewide. As part of the State’s continued commitment to preventing youth access to tobacco, $5.8 million was distributed to local enforcement officers to determine retail tobacco vendor compliance with Article 13-F of the Public Health Law, also known as the Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act (ATUPA). The ATUPA enforcement program is part of the State's anti-smoking and tobacco control initiative, the New York Tobacco Control Program (NY TCP). The NY TCP is funded annually through a state appropriation of $85.485 million and a grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of $1.87 million. The NY TCP targets tobacco use by promoting cessation, reducing its social acceptability, preventing initiation, addressing disproportionately high rates by specific population groups, and eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke. The NY TCP uses a multi-pronged strategic approach to reduce tobacco use in the population and seeks to impact the population as a whole through: Statewide and community action to change the community environment to support the tobacco-free norm, change community attitudes about tobacco, and de-normalize tobacco use. A key outcome of the NY TCP’s community mobilization strategy is the adoption and effective implementation of local and statewide policies that permanently change society’s acceptance of tobacco use. Health communication to increase awareness of the dangers of tobacco use and secondhand smoke and motivate tobacco users to stop, to expose tobacco industry propaganda and deglamorize tobacco use; and educate community members and decision makers about tobacco control. A key outcome of the NY TCP’s health communication strategy is better educated community members and decision makers who will support effective tobacco control policies and take personal action toward a tobacco-free New York. 3 Cessation interventions to establish and maintain community, governmental and health care delivery systems that promote cessation, increase access to and delivery of evidence-based cessation services, and motivate individual tobacco users to quit successfully. Key outcomes of the NY TCP’s cessation interventions are provision of guideline concordant tobacco dependence treatment by the health care sector and adoption of policies that motivate smokers and other tobacco users to quit. The NY TCP is supported by surveillance and evaluation activities to monitor program progress and impact and by program administration to build and maintain an effective tobacco control infrastructure, provide technical assistance and guidance, and manage the effective and efficient investment of state tobacco control funding. The NY TCP strives to contribute to the science of tobacco control through surveillance and evaluation of program initiatives