Crackdown on teen smoking

Cara Brancoli
Staff writer

If you thought the lines at the Snackademic and Lobby Shop were a little longer than usual, you may be right.

The Food and Drug Administration's recent crackdown on teen smoking has inspired a new federal anti-smoking law. The new statute requires the student convenience stores on campus, as well as cigarette venders nationwide, to check the ID of anyone purchasing tobacco products who appears to be younger than 27 years old.

The new mandate has not deterred some high school students from the School of the Arts directly adjacent to SF State.

"I'm kind of in a hurry," said Luby Mitrovich, an 18-year-old senior at the SOA. "I have to go buy cigarettes for five people."

Mitrovich rushed up to the counter and rattled off his laundry list of cigarettes.

"One pack of mediums, three packs of reds, and one pack of camels," he said as the cashier glanced at his ID and gave him a befuddled look. "You see what this new law is doing to me."

Mitrovich, just past the legal age to purchase cigarettes by two months, has become the designated buyer for his underage friends.

According to the American Cancer Society 17.5 percent of San Francisco youths aged 12 to 17 smoked as of 1993.

Jana Martin, a 17-year-old senior at the SOA, is one of those youths, and said the new law will not deter her.

"I think it's bullshit," Martin said. "I've been smoking for six years and I'm going to go through hell or high water to get a pack of cigarettes."

Gerald Pilare, student coordinator of the Lobby Shop and Snackademic, said the clerks are doing their best to prevent sales of tobacco to minors.

"Once we got the message, we posted notices outside the stores in the windows," Pilare said. "But it's hard to watch all the time."

Stores caught selling cigarettes to minors are fined $250, and repeat offenders can face up to a $15,000 fine as part of President Clinton's get tough on teen-smoking campaign.

According to Pilare, any cashier not complying with the new regulations will get a verbal warning. Further violations will lead to termination of the employee.

"It has been an ongoing problem because of the art school students," Pilare said. "Sure, it's a sale, but were doing as much as we can not to let it happen."

[ Golden Gater - March 4, 1997 ]