Undercover Survey Finds Outlets Sell Minors Tobacco

Some retail outlets in Oxnard are disregarding state laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors, according to a study released this week by a Latino community agency.

The reprimand of cigarette vendors is based on the findings of an undercover survey last Saturday of 91 Oxnard grocery stores, gas stations, mini-markets and liquor stores.

The operation--carried out by 15 teen-agers and five adult volunteers from Oxnard’s El Concilio, a Latino advocacy organization--showed that 50 of the 91 shops were willing to sell tobacco to minors, a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of $200 for a first offense.

“It’s hard to think why people would want to sell cigarettes to kids,” said Lonnie Miramontes, director of community services at El Concilio.

“Somehow we need to really educate our community as to what’s going on, especially considering how tobacco is related to the rise in health problems hitting Latinos,” Miramontes said.

Beatriz Herrera, a Cal State Northridge graduate student, coordinated the survey as part of a statewide project on tobacco availability.

The teen-agers--ages 13 to 16 and all members of El Concilio’s youth leadership group--went into the stores, asked to buy cigarettes, but did not actually make the purchases, Miramontes said. If the clerk rang up a sale, the transaction was considered to have occurred, he said.

Gas stations were the outlets most likely to sell to minors, with a 74% rate of sale, followed by liquor stores at 60% and grocery and convenience stores at 52%, the El Concilio survey showed.

Oxnard Police Chief Robert Owens said the sale of tobacco to minors is “a problem all over the country,” but he added that “enforcement at the point of purchase is not the way to solve the problem.”

“The way to solve the problem is education about the evils of cigarette smoking,” Owens said.

A package to be distributed to vendors across Oxnard will include information on the laws about sales of tobacco and possible fines for selling to minors, along with literature on the risks and consequences of tobacco use, Miramontes said.

Marcie Aguilera, 16, a sophomore at Oxnard’s Channel Islands High School who participated in the survey, said she and her 15-year-old partner were surprised that they were able to buy cigarettes at 27 of the 30 stores they entered.

“I thought none of them would sell them to us. We thought they’d just say no, but practically all of them did,” said Marcie, a nonsmoker.

Marcie added that the program could help Oxnard youths by educating them to stay away from tobacco, which she said “can lead to other things,” such as marijuana or cocaine.