Enforcement of minor tobacco laws: Wisconsin, 1996

The objective of this project was to profile the statewide enforcement of laws prohibiting sales of tobacco to minors and purchasing/possession of tobacco by minors in 1996. A sample of Wisconsin cities or villages (n = 86) were surveyed on adoption of pertinent state statutes as local ordinances and the number of recorded violations. About 70% of municipalities have passed illegal sales ordinances and about 80% have passed purchase/possession ordinances. Over 6,000 citations were issued to minors in 1996 for purchase/possession of tobacco and 67 citations were issued for illegal sales to minors. By extrapolation, we estimate that there is approximately one commercial selling citation issued for every 112,000 packs of cigarettes sold to minors. We discuss this disparity and submit that a shift in enforcement, to commercial sellers, is needed to help reduce the increasing use of tobacco by minors.