Topics : BUSINESS : Many Stores Sell Cigarettes to Teen-Agers, Study Finds

Nearly half of convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations surveyed in Pasadena will sell cigarettes to teen-agers too young to buy them legally, a recent countywide survey found.

The rate increased to more than half among the stores in West Covina and nearly three-fourths in Monterey Park, the survey found.

The survey, spearheaded by LA LINK, a regional anti-smoking program, checked 519 stores in 13 communities in Los Angeles County, including the three cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Volunteers ages 14 to 17 tried to buy cigarettes in the monthlong survey and found that more than 60% of the stores were willing to sell to them. To avoid breaking the law by actually buying the cigarettes, the teen-agers would terminate the sale at the last minute by claiming they had too little money.

It is against the law to sell cigarettes to anyone younger than 19, and store clerks are supposed to request identification from anyone who appears younger than 21.

The survey tested 87 Pasadena stores and found that 42 were willing to sell cigarettes to the teen-agers; in West Covina, it was 23 of 36 stores and in Monterey Park, 18 of 26.

“No one ever asked me for identification,” said Darin Evans, 18, of Covina, who was 17 when he participated in the survey. Evans said clerks at 20 Pasadena stores were willing to sell to him.

About 120 teen-agers participated in the survey. Supermarkets were the least likely outlets to sell cigarettes to teen-agers, the survey found. Liquor stores were most likely.