LOWE'S: JUST SAY NO TO PAINT

Associated Press CHARLOTTE - In recent weeks, Lowe's stores have quietly
introduced a nationwide policy to put age requirements on customers buying
certain products that can be used as inhalants.

Last weekend, the Wilkesboro-based home improvement chain backtracked on
its original ban of 2,000 products, cutting the list to about 1,200 after
some consumers complained about not being able to buy basics such as latex
paint and motor oil.

"That's not something Lowe's should decide - whether our children should
buy this and that," said Lowe's customer and shareholder Carol Lee, whose
19-year-old daughter was turned away after trying to buy latex paint for
her rental home last week.

Law enforcement and many consumer advocates praised the move as a
significant step toward reducing "huffing" - inhaling toxic vapors from
household products to get a quick high.

Huffing causes 100 to 125 deaths a year, as well as health effects ranging
from hearing loss to brain or kidney damage, national inhalant prevention
groups say.

From 2000 to 2001, the number of people age 12 and older reporting they
had used inhalants at least once rose by 1.5 million to over 18 million
people, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

The restricted items that remain on the Lowe's list include aerosol
products - including spray paint and cleaning products - oil-based paints,
paint thinner, solvents, cleaners, and butane cartridges.

At the stores, all restricted products trigger the cash register system to
prompt the cashier to check for proof of age.

Lowe's, the nation's No. 14 retailer, created the policy last month in an
effort to bring some order to a patchwork of state laws regulating
inhalants, spokeswoman Chris Ahearn said.

Thirty-eight states, including both Carolinas, have passed laws banning
huffing, according to Lowe's and prevention groups. Of those, 17 states,
including North Carolina, have laws regulating the sale of potential
inhalants to minors.

But the laws vary, with some setting age limits of 18 or 21. Others,
including North Carolina, tell retailers not to sell the products if they
have "reasonable cause to suspect" they will be abused as inhalants.

"We felt the safest, most responsible thing to do was go with the upper age
limit of 21," Ms. Ahearn said.

Lowe's has not yet posted signs informing customers of the new policy, but
the company plans to do so soon, she said.

Sgt. S.C. Voorhees of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said
inhalant abuse has not been increasing locally, but he supports the Lowe's
policy.

"That's very responsible for them as a business to take that step," he said.

Home Depot, the nation's No. 1 home improvement retailer, has a
long-standing policy of checking IDs of customers buying potential
inhalants in the states with laws regulating their sale, said Goldie
Taylor, the company's external affairs manager.

But the company does not try to regulate sales in states without laws,
because corporate officials believe such a policy could be on shaky legal
ground, she said.

Lowe's officials said many customers have raised questions and complaints
about the new policy.

But Jack Gillis, director of public affairs for the Consumer Federation of
America, said the benefits to consumers from the Lowe's policy outweigh the
in-convenience of a small number.

"There are sacrifices that have to be made for the greater good," he said.