tobacconists continue to sell cigarettes to minors

Friday October 4, 2024

Despite anti-tobacco campaigns, prevention is not yet effective in France. Many tobacconists do not play the game and sell cigarettes to minors.

Sale of tobacco to minors: problems with signage

In France, minors prohibited from buying cigarettes. A measure dating from 2009 and intended to protect them from smoking. But in reality, it is not applied. In fact, 94% of daily smokers aged 17 buy their cigarettes regularly from a tobacconist.

According to the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) which carried out an investigation at the request of the Ministry of Health, French tobacconists are very bad students. Thus, 40% of them do not display the signage supposed to be visible in their tobacco store. Otherwise, they almost never control the age of the minor by asking him for his ID.

Too many tobacconists do not apply the law

Even worse : " About 10% of tobacconists agree to sell to children aged 12 who were all non-smokers and two-thirds of tobacconists sell to minors aged 17 (65.2%) "Reveals the investigation. Finally, " if the young person is a smoker, the sale takes place in 93% of cases ".

An alarming situation, especially since we know that when adolescents smoke they very often become addicted as adults.

Note that the law is least applied in large and medium-sized cities. Therefore, the association demands from the authorities concerned, checks on tobacco shops with sanctions for non-compliance with the law.

Perrine Deurot-Bien

Read also: Electronic cigarette: surveillance is reinforced in France