Cigarette sales to minors have gone down compared to previous years, but is still a problem, according to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
“Any level of non-compliance is unacceptable,” Dr. Gary Kirk, CEO of WECHU said in a statement Tuesday.
The health unit said that in 2012, 35 charges were laid for selling cigarettes to a minor. In 2011, there were 69 charges and in 2010, there were 55. In 2009, just 28 charges were laid.
The compliance rate of retailers hovered between 93 and 96 per cent for the five-year period spanning 2007-12.
Kirk said that preventing those under 19 years old from buying cigarettes is a critical part of reducing tobacco use in the region. “If they can’t buy it, they are more likely not to use it,” he said.
The WECHU tests compliance by using teenage “test shoppers” who visit stores that sell tobacco and try to buy cigarettes. If the vendor sells them cigarettes, they are charged. Stores which commit two or more tobacco-related offences can be suspended from selling cigarettes and other tobacco products for six months.
According to Statistics Canada’s January 2013 health profile for the Windsor census metropolitan area, about 21 per cent of the population aged 12 and over smokes daily or occasionally, which is roughly equivalent to the national average. When the figures are broken down by gender, more men in Windsor (27 per cent) reported smoking than women (16 per cent).
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