Selling tobacco to Ontario teens losing its lure

Ontario's tough Tobacco Control Act seems to be deterring retailers from selling cigarettes to teenagers, the March-April edition of the Addiction Research Foundation Journal reports. It cited a provincewide study that found the number of vendors ready to sell cigarettes to teens had fallen from 43% in fall 1994, when the legislation was introduced, to 28% a year later. Maximum fines of $2000 for individuals and $5000 for corporations selling cigarettes to teens younger than 19 years are being credited with the decline. At the end of January 1996, more than 150 Ontario vendors had been charged, with a conviction rate exceeding 80%. Ontario's Ministry of Health spends $2.5 million a year enforcing the act.

| CMAJ April 15, 1996 (vol 154, no 8) |