There is a connection between the ease with which cigarettes and other tobacco products can be obtained by children and the number of children who begin using tobacco.

Kansas is working to break this connection by eliminating the availability of tobacco to children.

In 1992, a federal law went into effect requiring states to prohibit the sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors and conduct random, unannounced inspections each year to determine whether the law is being followed. Under the Synar amendment, named after chief sponsor, the late Mike Synar of Oklahoma, states not enforcing the law risk losing a significant portion of their alcohol and drug block grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The block grant funds are a main source of funding for regional alcohol and drug treatment and prevention programs in Kansas.

Several public and private Kansas agencies has been working to bring Kansas into compliance with the Synar amendment. The effort is being led by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' (SRS) Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, the agency that administers the block grant funds.

Others involved include the Kansas SmokeLess Kids Initiative Inc., the Kansas Departments of Health and Environment and Revenue, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Tobacco-Free Kansas Coalition composed of over 200 agencies, groups and individuals. Local health departments, the Regional Prevention Centers, and the Kansas Nurses Association also are involved. The Southeast Kansas Education Services coordinated the Synar study.

To comply with Synar, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control within the Kansas Department of Revenue last summer conducted an inspection of a representative sample of over-the-counter tobacco outlets in Kansas. Utilizing underage youth volunteers, the division conducted 449 unannounced random compliance checks to determine the rate of tobacco sales to minors in Kansas.

Based on the findings of the compliance inspections, the Kansas rate of over-the-counter tobacco sales to minors in 1996 was 63 percent. Although states were scheduled at no more than 20 percent non-compliant by last year, the federal government just released final guidelines for the program last spring. States are negotiating compliance rates, and Kansas is not expected to lose federal block grant funding.

Kansas is projected to be in compliance with Synar by the year 2001.

Of major help in meeting compliance will be legislation passed last year by the Kansas Legislature.

House Bill 2544 prohibits the distribution of tobacco products to minors and allows for fines, license revocation and criminal penalties for the sale of tobacco to minors. It also makes possession of tobacco products by minors an infraction with a $25 fine and allows police officers to confiscate tobacco products from youth. The collaboration among public and private agencies has one goal in mind: to protect children from future problems associated with tobacco use.

Counties in Kansas that experience higher rates of tobacco purchases by underage youth also report the youngest age of first tobacco use, according to Kansas Communities that Care, a risk assessment survey done by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services (ADAS) Commission.

The compliance checks and the risk assessment survey demonstrate the need to control sale to and use of tobacco products by children," said ADAS Commissioner Andrew O'Donovan. As a state, we must continue to work to eliminate the use of tobacco by our children."

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001