TEENS JUST SAY NO EVEN TO ENFORCE LAW

Maybe The Anti-smoking Campaigns Aimed At Teens Are Working Too
Well.

Health officials throughout New Jersey are having a tough time
recruiting teenagers to buy cigarettes -- even though the kids don't
have to smoke them.

''I don't think I'd feel comfortable trying to buy cigarettes," said
Laura Sontag, 16, of Piscataway. "I'd have to think about doing
something like that, even if it was for a good cause. It doesn't seem
right."

Local health officials use teen volunteers as part of a statewide
program called Tobacco Age of Sale Enforcement. Kids between 14 and 17
are recruited as part of an undercover operation to bust merchants for
selling cigarettes to minors. All children who volunteer must have
permission slips signed by parents.

The kids go into local stores to buy cigarettes, while health
inspectors wait outside in cars. If a sale is made, the inspector
enters the store and tickets the owner.

Merchants who sell tobacco to minors face a $250 fine for the first
offense, a $500 fine for the second offense, and a $1,000 fine for the
third and subsequent offenses. After the second offense, a suspension
or revocation of a license to sell tobacco is possible.

The program is effective, officials say. Since its debut in 1996, 424
store owners have received summonses and 382 fines were issued, said
Susan Goldman, director of prevention services for the state
Department of Health and Senior Services.

In 1994, two years before the program's start, 84 percent of the
merchants surveyed by Health and Senior Services sold tobacco products
to minors. In the first year of the program, 1996, the numbers were
cut in half with 44 percent of the merchants surveyed selling tobacco
to minors and in 1998, the number was again halved to 22 percent,
according to the state.

The number of kids from 12 to 17 who smoke has declined slightly over
the same time period. In 1994, 18.9 percent of the teens in the U.S.
smoked, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. The
number decreased to 18.2 percent in 1998, according to that survey,
which was conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Health Services
Administration.

Teen attitudes toward smoking are making it hard for local officials
to recruit for the undercover enforcement program.

''As far as I know, everybody is having a problem getting teenagers,"
said Bruce Bailey, chief inspector for the Bergen County Department of
Health Services.

One reason is that some kids -- and adults in their communities --
don't want kids buying cigarettes for any reason.

''I wouldn't want to buy cigarettes, even if it were for some
program," said Corey Gurkovich, a 16-year-old Piscataway High School
junior.

Bailey said many adults who work so hard to get kids to resist the
temptations of drugs and alcohol don't want to tempt fate by sending
kids in to buy cigarettes.

''Some of the cops with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program
don't want the kids to do it," said Bailey. "They don't want them
buying cigarettes under any circumstances.

''I think it's a good program," he added. "But I believe we're having
a hard time because some people feel that if the kids can buy
cigarettes when they're out with the inspectors, maybe they will try
to buy cigarettes when we aren't around."

There are other reasons for the low-participation rate.

Cranford Health Officer Warren Hehl said he initially heard from
parents who feared their children may have to testify against
merchants in court, even though it is rare for a kid to have to testify.

Other kids are afraid to face merchants they've helped bust when they
return to their neighborhood store.

For that reason, Bergen County officials protect youths by having them
volunteer in towns where they do not live.

When officials can find kids to participate, the program works
well.

In Piscataway last year, dozens of teens visited 21 stores to request
cigarettes, said township Health Officer Andy Simpf Jr. He said
teenagers helped authorities bust eight merchants who sold cigarettes
without requesting age identification.

But no one has been busted this year because few teens have
volunteered, Simpf said. "I made the same calls that I always do each
year. But I only got one kid this time."

Simpf has resorted to using his own child and children of other health
office employees. But merchants may become suspicious if the same
teenagers keep walking into their stores, Simpf said.

Sometimes the problem is not finding willing kids -- it's finding
willing parents.

Nadia Wilson, 14, a freshman at Piscataway High, thinks the program is
a good idea, but said her parents might object to her
participation.

''They'd probably be skeptical," Nadia said. "I don't think they'd
like for people to see me buying cigarettes. A lot of people might not
understand that I was doing it for a good cause."

One way to lure kids is to pay them. Bridgewater Township officials
pay teens $25 for each inspection.

''That's nonsense to ask them to volunteer, since the adult supervisor
is either getting overtime or (paid) on the clock," said Bridgewater
Health Official Peter Leung.

And the money is there. Under the program, the town gets $50 for each
inspection from the state health department, which oversees the
program. The state spends $500,000 a year on the program, funded
mostly by the $50 tobacco-selling license fee it collects each year
from merchants statewide.

Simpf said he does not offer money or gift certificates to Piscataway
teens because he wants them to get into the spirit of
volunteerism.