Context There is growing concern that the Internet might become a source of tobacco products for minors. Although researchers have studied tobacco sales to minors at retail outlets for more than a decade, there are no published studies of tobacco sales to minors via the Internet.
Objective To determine the proportion of Internet cigarette vendors that will sell cigarettes to minors.
Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional study conducted in April-July 2001. Under adult supervision, 4 adolescents aged 11 to 15 years attempted to purchase cigarettes via 55 Internet cigarette vendors located in 12 states. These minors made a total of 83 purchase attempts, paying by credit card (n = 47) and by money order (n = 36).
Main Outcome Measure Proportion of Internet cigarette vendors that sold cigarettes to minors.
Results Minors successfully received cigarettes for 93.6% of credit card purchase attempts and for 88.9% of money order purchase attempts. Age was never verified for any of these deliveries. Internet vendors sent a total of 1650 packs of cigarettes to the underage adolescents in this study.
Conclusion Minors appear to have easy access to cigarettes via the Internet because many Internet vendors have weak or nonexistent age verification procedures.
Author Affiliations: Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Dr Ribisl and Mss Williams and Kim), and the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (Dr Ribisl), Chapel Hill.
State enforcing Internet tobacco sales ban
New York's Department of Taxation and Finance is working to cut off the flow of untaxed Internet cigarette sales by convincing shippers not to do business with Indian reservation smoke shops, Peter Farrell, the department's deputy commissioner of tax enforcement said July 17.
The department has commitments from 40 shipping companies not to deliver tobacco products to New York addresses, Farrell told members of the state Department of Health's Tobacco Use and Prevention Advisory Board.
The department told the shippers that if they deliver tobacco products from Internet vendors they'll be charged with violating the state's cigarette shipping law, Farrell said.
The law, enacted in 2000, bans non-face-to-face retail tobacco sales. In 2001, a federal court invalidated the statute, ruling it was an unconstitutional violation of the federal "commerce clause." But on Feb. 13, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court ruling and upheld the statute.
The state probably loses $250 million to $400 million a year in uncollected sales and excise taxes due to Internet tobacco sales, he said.
The law, Farrell said, allows state officials to go after shippers, buyers and vendors. But because of concerns from Gov. George Pataki's office about potential confrontations on the state's Indian reservations, the initial enforcement effort is aimed at shippers, Farrell said.
"The shippers seem to be willing to cooperate," Farrell said.
The only Internet vendors physically located in New York are on Indian reservations, Farrell said. Both the governor and state Division of Criminal Justice Services are hesitant about attempting to enforce state tax collection laws on a reservation.
Last time the state tried to collect excise and sales taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations, in 1997, members of the Seneca tribe blocked the New York State Thruway and engaged in violent clashes with New York State Troopers. Pataki backed down and changed the regulations which allowed tax collections on the reservation.
According to a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, while Indians cannot be taxed by the state, non-Indians making purchases on Indian reservations can be required to pay sales and excise taxes. |
