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Minors' access to tobacco before and after the California STAKE Act
H Landrine1, E A Klonoff, A Reina-Patton
1San Diego State University, CA 92182-4611, USA. HLandrine@msn.com
Objective:
To assess the effect of implementation and enforcement of the California STAKE Act on minors' access to tobacco by examining sales over time in the same stores.
Design:
Sixteen year old girls and boys attempted to purchase cigarettes in the same 72 stores, in the same manner, in five time periods: August 1994 (before implementation of legislation); August 1995 (immediately after implementation); August 1996; March 1998; and January 1999 (all postimplementation).
Outcome Measure:
Percentage of successful cigarette purchases over time, in different ethnic communities.
Results:
Minors' access rate decreased significantly from 41.2% before implementation of legislation (1994) to 12.7% after implementation (1998). The same stores were 3-5 times more likely to sell cigarettes to minors before than after the legislation was implemented, irrespective of ethnic census tract.
Conclusions:
The California STAKE Act and its enforcement have been effective in reducing minors' access to tobacco in all ethnic communities.