Smoking shame: too many fags sold to kids

Cigarette sales to minors have increased in Wanganui, despite increased monitoring of dairies.
In a recent sting (controlled purchase operation), 31 percent of shops sold tobacco to a 15-year-old girl, compared with 27 percent when the previous sting was done, just three months ago.
The national average is only five percent.
Mid Central Health Smokefree Officer, Barry Thackwells, said Wanganui is "one of the worst places in New Zealand" in terms of underage tobacco sales, and he has been focusing on the city for this reason.
He also said the dairies visited had been warned and given information numerous times about the legal implications of selling tobacco to minors, but that many of them still sold to the under-aged.
"What concerns me is the blatant disregard of their responsibilities," he said. "They're obviously putting profit over punishment.
"It's a fact that before people commit an offence they consider profit, the chance of getting caught, and the fine they have to pay, and then make an economic decision."
He said they caught one dairy illegally selling single cigarettes, which makes smoking much more affordable to children.
Mr Thackwell said at least one store committed the same offence in both stings, and because of the volume they were catching, they didn't have time to go to all of the stores that they had complaints about.
He has handed the details of the stores to the Ministry of Health.
According to national director of tobacco control for the Ministry of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, its policy is to proceed directly to prosecution with shops caught in CPOs, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
If the shops are found guilty they face fines of up to $2000 and may be prohibited from selling tobacco products for up to three months.
However, Dr Bloomfield said that first-time offenders have recently been discharged without conviction, and even if they are convicted, a typical punishment for selling tobacco to minors is only a fine of $200.
Health promotion adviser for the Cancer Society in Wanganui, Sue Stuart, said she was "disheartened and frustrated" by the results.
"I'm really saddened by it. There are parents who don't want their kids to smoke, but [dairies] are still selling it to them. They have an obligation, if not morally then legally, to not sell tobacco to minors. They need to be prosecuted and held accountable."
There were several instances of parents pleading with shops not to sell tobacco to their children.
She said the dairies were damaging the work the Cancer Society is doing.
"We can do everything to work in the community to alleviate the problem of smoking, but it's completely undermined if these retailers sell tobacco to underaged people."
The Ministry of Health is working with local smokefree officers to prepare files on the offending shops, which will then go to the ministry's legal health section where charges will be laid.