The police, in conjunction with the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) program, the Tobacco Prevention Enforcement Program (TPEP), conducted unannounced inspections of establishments that sell tobacco products, to pinpoint who is selling to minors.
"We just touched on it, there is a large amount of places that sell tobacco in this town," said Sgt. Lowell DePalma. "For younger kids, we understand making choices can be difficult so we try to educate them, but adults should be more responsible."
DePalma said the TPEP is a new program this year and all towns will be participating in the effort to find lawbreakers. DePalma said the investigations will be unannounced and will take place randomly; the police department might not even know until the day before.
DePalma said the establishments found in violation last week include the Exxon Mart, 682 Queen St., Queen Sunoco, 474 Queen St., Queen Street Mobile, 301 Queen St. and the Southington Hess, 181 Queen St.
According to DePalma, the TPEP strives to educate cigarette dealers, children and the general public about the laws prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to underage youth. The program employs 16- and 17-year-olds to enter establishments and try to purchase tobacco products, and is funded by $17 million in federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment grants.
A representative from the TPEP was not available for comment Friday.
DePalma said those caught selling to minors will have to pay a fine.
According to state statute section 53-344, any person who sells, gives or delivers cigarettes to a person under the age of 18 shall be fined not more than $200 for the first offense, not more than $350 for a second offense within an 18-month period and not more than $500 for each subsequent offense within an 18-month period.
"We are out there to make sure adults do their part," DePalma said.
The statute also says that any person under 18 years of age who misrepresents his age to purchase cigarettes tobacco products shall be fined not more than $50 for the first offense and not less than $50 nor more than $100 for each subsequent offense.
But surprisingly, there was some good news for beer drinkers as well as those thinking of buying a new car.
In a statement, the distributor of Tiger beer said draft beer should get cheaper by next weekend, while the price of cans and bottles should go down by mid-to late March.
Before you light up that next cigarette or take that next puff, remember it is going to cost quite a bit more.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others say they hope the higher prices will encourage more smokers to quit. But critics said smokers will simply buy inexpensive cigarettes over the Internet, in nearby states or from American Indian reservations, which are not subject to state and local taxes.
Many smokers said they felt unfairly targeted by lawmakers, who they said can get away with taxing cigarettes because the habit is no longer socially acceptable.
Becky Rabinowitz, 59, rolled her eyes and imitated nonsmokers who wrinkle their noses and wave away the smoke from her Misty Menthol Lights as they walk by her office building.
"Why do the smokers have to be penalized?" said Rabinowitz, who has smoked for more than 40 years. "There are other taxes they could be raising that they aren't." The cashier said the man asked for two cartons of cigarettes . But legislators and tobacco companies are still debating whether using tax money is appropriate when it could be used for something else. Another sticking point involves the Federal Food and Drug Administration and whether it should be able to regulate cigarettes as part of the buyout.
But surprisingly, there was some good news for beer drinkers as well as those thinking of buying a new car. In a statement, the distributor of Tiger beer said draft beer should get cheaper by next weekend, while the price of cans and bottles should go down by mid-to late March.
Well, the state is still collecting annual payments from the settlement. It expects to get $400 million this year. But estimates are shrinking as a result of a number of economic factors and weaknesses with the settlement. It's a problem that affects most of the states that signed the landmark 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. Many are watching Big cigarettes companies reduce their settlement payments little by little.
That's because more and more smokers are switching to cigarette brands that weren't part of the Big cigarettes settlement. Some of these brands are manufactured in other countries, such as Greece, and imported.
Tobacco companies increased their prices to help pay for the settlement, the off-brands, as they're called, can sell much more cheaply.
As a result, a carton of these cigarettes costs as little as $12, compared to $30 for a carton of a brand name like Marlboro.
But as more and more smokers buy brands like Cowboys, Lobos and Marathons, Big Tobacco companies like Philip Morris and Lorillard can reduce their payments to the states. That's because a provision in the settlement pegs what they owe to their market share in each state. If the market share declines, so do the payments.
If you're hooked on cigarettes and counting your change, that's a significant incentive to switch.
Big Tobacco might be able to reduce its payments as much as $2.3 billion by 2010. In Pennsylvania, the state with the third-biggest cutback, that translates into a loss of $25.9 million.
Perhaps in a $22 billion budget this doesn't seem like much. But remember that state lawmakers already have funded part of the PACE prescription program for senior citizens with cigarettes settlement money. County smoking cessation programs depend on these funds, as well. Two years ago, the state had to rely on $180 million of its tobacco settlement to balance the budget.
The net income of world's second-largest cigarettes maker dropped to GBP 88 M (USD 166 M) from GBP 305 M a year earlier, the company's spokesman David Betteridge said.
The London-based maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes took a charge of GBP 134 M in the fourth quarter as it cut 100 jobs and sold its Myanmar operations.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler denied a motion by the Camel to dismiss a section of the case alleging a youth marketing campaign was part of a decades-long effort to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking in violation of federal racketeering laws.
The goal, according to government lawyers, was to sustain and expand the cigarettes market by targeting children as a pool of potential new smokers to replace those who quit or died.
"This is a significant setback for the cigarettes industry's effort to avoid a trial on one of the most damaging claims," said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The companies, including Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Louisville-based Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and others, deny they tailored advertising campaigns to youngsters.