Court Decision On Tobacco Sales – Who Are We Protecting Anyway?

On April 25th, Judge William Osteen of the US Federal District Court in North Carolina made a decision affecting both the tobacco industry and the retail industry. The good news is that in his ruling, he supported the right of tobacco companies and retail businesses to advertise their product. In doing so he nullified a ban on color advertising and promotional displays that the FDA had sought to impose. The proposed ban would have restricted businesses from having color advertising and promotional displays in their privately owned stores, a clear violation of First Amendment rights AND private property rights. Judge Osteen should be commended on his decision to protect these rights.

However, he did make some disturbing rulings…

All sales of tobacco must be face to face. Customers may not serve themselves from self-serve displays. Clerks must hand tobacco products to customers over the counter. WHAT? Who is this supposed to protect? Will it protect adults from uncontrollable urges to buy cigarettes when they are in self-serve displays? Will it protect minors who might have uncontrollable urges to steal the cigarettes from self-serve displays? I may be wrong, but I think the adults can be responsible for their own urges. I also think that it is the stores that should be protected from people who steal, not the other way around. If an adult does not want to be tempted by a self-serve cigarette rack, then they should shop elsewhere. And if the government is afraid that minors might steal and then smoke cigarettes, maybe stricter penalties for theft are in order.

The other disturbing decision made by Judge Osteen upholds the carding provisions which took effect Feb. 28 that establish a minimum age of 18 for tobacco purchases, and which require retailers to I.D. customers 26 and under before making tobacco sales. First of all, I thought the minimum age was 18? So where did 26 come from? Some unelected beaurocrat’s favorite number? Second, it is already the law in every state that a person must be 18 before purchasing tobacco products. It is unnecessary for the federal government to be involved. The regulations also hold the retail business completely responsible and subject to fines and other sanctions when a minor is sold tobacco products. Now let’s walk through a sale where a minor acquires tobacco illegally.

The store trains its employees to never sell tobacco to minors using “We Card” training aids, and “We Card” signs are posted in the store stating the policy not to sell tobacco to minors. Almost every store selling tobacco products has these signs and training aids. If they don’t, they can be acquired for free with just a phone call.
A minor enters the store and attempts to purchase a tobacco product. The fact is, if the minor never made the attempt, there would never be a problem. Maybe this is where the problem could be cut off at the source.
The clerk sells the tobacco product to the minor. Hmmm, the regulations don’t say anything about punishing the person who actually sells the product to a minor.
Nowhere in the scenario does the business do anything irresponsibly, but because of illegal actions of two individuals, the business faces fines and other sanctions. Because of these regulations, a disgruntled employee could spend a day or two selling to minors in hopes of getting his employer in trouble. The only repercussion he would face would be losing his job, which he doesn’t want anyway. The business would be liable for that individuals actions and face the penalties. Why doesn’t the FDA wish to hold the individuals responsible? Shouldn’t a minor attempting to purchase tobacco be ticketed and fined? Shouldn’t the individual clerk making the sale carry some responsibility. And finally, shouldn’t the parents of these minors be showing a little more interest in what their children are spending their money on?

Maybe it’s time for parents to start taking more responsibility for their kids, and for everyone to start taking responsibility for themselves.

-Wisdom

No related posts.