State works to cut back on youth tobacco consumption

According to a study conducted by the state Family and Social Services Administration, 21.7 percent of tobacco vendors illegally sold tobacco products to Indiana youths last year.\nVarious Indiana state agencies and private organizations are committed to seeing that percentage drop -- they're looking to state funds secured in the nationwide tobacco settlement to help them attack the problem. \nIndiana\'s level of youth smokers is higher than the national average, said Louise Polansky of Indiana\'s Division of Mental Health and Addiction. According to the agency's Web site, the national average of individuals under the age of 18 that use tobacco is 18 percent, while 24 percent of Indiana youth are users.\nRobyn Eley of Smokefree Indiana said it is important to focus anti-tobacco efforts on underage smokers. \n"Once kids start smoking, they're hooked."\nUnderlining this point, Karla Sneegas of the Indiana\'s Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Board stated in a recent press release that "Indiana has the fourth-highest adult smoking rate in the country. It all starts with our youth."\nWhile Polansky would like to see the percentage of tobacco retailers that sell to youth decline further, she emphasized that the 21.7 percent figure for 2000 represented a 6 percent drop from 1999, according to the state\'s annual study.\nPolansky attributed the decline, at least in part, to the state-administered Tobacco Retailer Inspection Program. The agency works with the Indiana State Excise Police to randomly inspect tobacco retailers, checking for non-compliance with the state's youth access laws.\nThe program will benefit from Indiana\'s share of the nationwide tobacco settlement, it was announced last Wednesday. The influx of funds will result in the "stepping up of efforts to enforce state laws," Eley said. \n"The national lawsuit against the tobacco industry, in which Indiana played a major role, was all about stopping the marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products to youths," Sneegas said. "And the state legislature appropriated $65 million through 2003 to the tobacco board to implement a comprehensive approach to curb smoking in Indiana."\nJim Cushing, manager of The Den, a local convenient mart located on Kirkwood across from Peoples Park, said "we do everything we possibly can to not sell tobacco products to minors." \nIn addition to posting multiple signs stating that they do not sell tobacco to anyone under the age of 18, he said they consistently require identification. Their staff is trained to effectively deal with minors who attempt to purchase cigarettes from them. \nSince he started as manager a few years ago, Cushing said he has witnessed a sharp decline in the number of youths trying to buy cigarettes from The Den as a result of the measures that he has implemented. \nSusan Mulder, an Indiana cancer control specialist with the American Cancer Society, said a comprehensive approach to youth smoking is needed. \n"We need to be doing all that we can to make sure that children do not pick up the tobacco habit," she said. \nThis includes reducing the number of access points, Mulder said.