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Texas needs your help!
Like
many states, Texas has had laws prohibiting the sales of tobacco products to children for
many years. Prior to 1997, these laws were not being adhered to by retail tobacco
vendors and were not being actively enforced by law enforcement.
With the passage of Senate Bill #55, 75th
Legislature (1997), Texas enacted some of the strictest laws in the nation regarding the
sale of tobacco to children, and the possession of tobacco by children.
Additionally, The Synar Amendment, U.S.
congressional legislation passed in 1992, is attached to the re-authorization of federal
funding to states for substance abuse prevention and treatment (SAPT) block grant funding.
This amendment mandates all states have tobacco youth access enforcement laws and
strategies to enforce those laws. The State of Texas stands to lose up to 40% of the SAPT
grant, $60 million in federal funds that directly benefit all Texas communities.
Since that time, fewer than 10% of Texas Law
Enforcement Agencies actively report the enforcement of these laws. We believe that
these laws are being enforced to a much wider extent than is being reported, but can not
support that claim without the data.
We need your help! We need you to
report enforcement of these laws, and we need you to tell your peer law officers to report
their actions as well. Reporting tools and forms
are available on this website and are available for download and use to report your
efforts.
Remember, this is about our children's access
and use of a dangerous, addictive drug. There are very strong motivations to enforce
these laws. They are:
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The use of tobacco is a health issue
for all our children. Tobcco products are highly addictive. Cigarettes
contain at least 43 known cancer causing ingredients, thereby being classified as a
"class A" carcinogen, a substance known to cause cancer. With many other
negative health effects, we find no adults, smokers or non-smokers, who advocate tobacco
use by their children.
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The sale or delivery of any
tobacco product to a child is a crime!
It is as simple as that. Any Texas law enforcement officer can and should
enforce this law by the filing of a complaint and/or the issuance of a citation.
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Tobacco is considered a "gateway" drug for teenagers as the amount of tobacco use is
directly related to other drug use. Illegal drug use is rare among those who
have never smoked and cigarette smoking is likely to precede the use of alcohol and
illicit drugs. (National Survey Results on Drug Use from the Monitoring the
Future Study, 1975," The University of Michigan). Read more...
By enforcing existing Texas
tobacco laws, law enforcement officers can address these problems early with both
proactive prevention and interdiction, and have a positive impact on many associated community problems.
An additional motivation is the fact that
tobacco kills more Texans than fires, homicides, drugs, auto accidents, DWI accidents,
suicides, AIDS, and Alcohol
. . . . . COMBINED!
The materials on this website have been
developed to assist you and your department in the effort to stop children from using
tobacco. Please reproduce the materials as necessary for your program use, giving credit
to the original authors.
Finally, while it is critical that you
participate in this program and enforce the law, it is also of the utmost importance that
after concluding your department's education and enforcement operation, you report the
results. In order to document your enforcement efforts, reporting tools and forms are on this website and are
available for download and use.
If you have questions, do not hesitate to
contact me or my staff by calling toll-free 1-888-STEP-123, or e-mailing us at texasstep@txstate.edu
I thank you for any help you can provide in
this important effort!
Howard
H.M. Hancock, Director
Texas Statewide Tobacco
Education & Prevention
Department of Criminal Justice
Texas State University-San Marcos
P.O. Box 1328
San Marcos, Texas 78667-1328
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