Pay and puff - Minors effortlessly purchase cigarettes
Published:Sunday | July 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
THE LAW prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors is being ignored by most supermarkets, stores, corner shops and street-side vendors across the island.
Senior officials of the National Council on Drug Abuse have repeatedly argued that Jamaican children have too easy access to cigarettes, and recent checks have revealed that this claim is true.
A probe conducted by The Sunday Gleaner showed that Jamaican children have an 80 per cent chance of purchasing cigarettes without being asked a single question.
In the odd case where they are asked their age, a simple lie is good enough, as store owners are reluctant to ask for identification before selling the cigarettes.
When a Sunday Gleaner team of minors - who participated with the consent of their parents - took to the streets, only one of five retailers asked their age.
The other stores sold the cigarettes to the high-school students without a question.
Ironically, inscribed on each box of cigarettes purchased during the undercover assignment was the warning 'Not for sale to minors'.
Our team's first stop was at Michael's Service Centre on East Street in downtown Kingston where 16-year-old Alicia, who was not in her school uniform, ordered a 20-pack of Matterhorn.
Without a question being asked, the cash machine was singing its familiar 'chi-ching' song.
When the store supervisor and the attendant were confronted about selling cigarettes to a minor, they argued that Alicia looked older than 16.
The store had a sign that said cigarette purchases can only be made by persons 18 and over. However, it was not the practice of the operators to ask for identification.
The next stop was at a corner shop in Orange Villa on Orange Street, also in downtown Kingston.
No questions asked
Again, no questions were asked as 15-year-old Jamespurchased three sticks of Craven A.
When confronted, the owner of the shop said he thought James was buying the cigarettes for a family member. Interestingly, the shopkeeper was spot on when asked to guess James' age. He vowed never to be caught off guard again.
The probe continued at a makeshift shop on Bender's Lane, off East Queen Street in central Kingston.
Like a scratched record, the same scenario repeated itself. The male shopkeeper just reached for a cigarette and sold it to the 16-year-old high-school student without asking any questions.
When our team told him that he had breached the law, the shopkeeper said he thought she was buying it for a relative.
The first and only refusal was at the Total Bonjour service station in Mona, St Andrew. Signs screaming that cigarettes "are not sold to persons under 18 years of age" were everywhere, from the entrance to the counter.
James walked up and ordered a pack of cigarettes. The attendant asked him his age and when he said 16, the attendant promptly told him the purchase could not be made.
It was Alicia's turn to take a crack at Bonjour's alert attendants. She walked up and made her order. They asked the 16-year-old her age and she pointed to the 18 on the sign on the counter.
Unfortunately, the cigarette was going to be sold without her being asked to prove her non-verbal claim, but she told the attendant that she had changed her mind.
High praises
Bonjour's managing director was pleased with the performance of her staff and she had reason to be. She also heaped praises on Carreras, distributors of the brands of cigarettes sold in her store, for putting up the signs that serve as a reminder.
The manager said although businesses are operated to make a profit, in her operation the dollar is not almighty.
"Business is not all about profit. It's about goodwill and abiding by the law," she said.
Chris Brown, Carreras' corporate and regulatory manager, later told The Sunday Gleaner that if a store attendant is in doubt about a person's age, the cigarettes should not be sold, or an ID shoud be requested as proof of age. If the identification card is not forthcoming, then the cigarettes should not be sold.
Our final stop was Shoppers Fair in Liguanea, St Andrew. A box of Dunhill with 20 sticks was sold to Alicia without any reservation.
At first, the store manger defended the sale by stating that her team could not tell by looking that a person was not 18 years old.
"We are going to defend it," she said. After going back and forth about the illegality of such sales and the duty of stores to uphold the law, the manager finally caved. "You have to ask for ID because you don't know the ages of persons," she admitted.
- Names changed to protect identity.