Praise For Not Selling Cigarettes to Minors

Christchurch Retailers Praised For Not Selling Cigarettes to Minors

An overwhelming majority of premises refused to sell cigarettes to people under the age of 18 in recent Canterbury District Health Board monitoring checks on Christchurch tobacco retailers.

Of 16 premises visited in July, only one sale was made to the underage volunteer.

Medical Officer of Health, Dr Alistair Humphrey, congratulates all those retailers who are consistently refusing to sell cigarettes to young people under the age of 18 years.

Dr Humphrey said that while this result is extremely pleasing, it must be tempered with the knowledge that enforcement officers are continuing to receive complaints from members of the public that certain retail outlets are selling cigarettes to minors.

“The law is there for a reason. Very few people start smoking over the age of 18, so preventing sales to minors saves lives. If premises sell tobacco products, it is their responsibility not to sell to underage people. Clearly not all retailers are complying with the law and these retailers run the risk of prosecution.”

If a retailer is in doubt as to a young person’s age, or if the young person looks younger than 25, they should always ask for identification when tobacco is sold.

Sales to minors have been found to happen most often when family members or friends of shop owners are helping out at a shop.

“It can be difficult to assess the age of teenagers. It is therefore important not only to ask a person’s age but to require some proof in the form of photo identification” says Dr Humphrey. “If relatives or friends are helping out in a shop, they need to be supervised so that they can be prevented from selling cigarettes to minors, or alternatively they should refer all tobacco product sales to someone with more experience.”

Retailers and their staff also need to be vigilant in checking the identification of young people who want to purchase cigarettes.
Monitoring checks will continue around Christchurch and Canterbury to make sure that retailers continue to obey the law. Retailers who are caught selling tobacco products to people under the age of 18 will face prosecution. In addition, changes introduced by the 2003 amendments to the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 can result in repeat offending retailers being ordered not to sell tobacco products for up to three months.

ENDS

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