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Saturday, December 27, 1997

Texas teens face tough new anti-smoking law

By ANNA M. TINSLEY

Scripps Howard News Service

AUSTIN -- Texas teens caught smoking face fines, education courses and community service as the nation's toughest anti-tobacco policy becomes law on Thursday.

The anti-tobacco law, approved by state lawmakers earlier this year, lets law enforcement officers who catch anyone under the age of 18 smoking, or possessing tobacco products, send those teens to court.

There, the minors could be sentenced to pay fines, attend education courses or complete community service. And if the youths don't fulfill their sentence, their driver's licenses are revoked or suspended.

"Tobacco use is the No. 1 preventable cause of death and disease in our country," said Phil Huang, chief of the Texas Department of Health's chronic disease prevention and control bureau. "It kills more Americans than AIDS, crack, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, car accidents, fire and murder combined.

"We know that 90 percent of smokers start before the age of 18. So this new law is a way for us to help decrease usage," said Huang, who is helping develop the education courses required by the new law. "We have to do everything we can because it's such a big problem."

The number of younger smokers has grown in recent years.

In 1987, 15 percent of smokers were between the ages of 18 and 24, compared with 22.9 percent in 1995, according to a 1995 health department study.

And the Centers for Disease Control estimates one of every three children now using tobacco products will die early from a tobacco-related disease.

Chemicals found in tobacco smoke infect body parts from the heart to the lungs to blood cells, health officials say.

More than 400,000 Texas youths now use tobacco products, according to a health department report.

"Our effort makes Texas a national leader in protecting our children's health," said state Rep. Hugo Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi, who sponsored the nation's toughest anti-tobacco law.

Some portions of the bill took effect Sept. 1, but enforcement provisions don't start until Jan. 1.

Retailers who sell tobacco products to underage Texans face fines or suspended permits. Retailers are responsible for posting warning signs about penalties for violations, as well as training employees about the new law.

The law also prohibits posting tobacco ads within 1,000 feet of a school or church. And health department officials are developing new ad campaigns encouraging Texas teens to stay away from tobacco.

But Texas minors are the key targets, officials say.

"This will be another tool we can use. It's like zero tolerance on alcohol," said Mark Clark, a spokesman for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. "Sure, this rule may make it harder to be a teen-ager.

"But there's a chance it could make some stop smoking. And I haven't met an adult yet who said they wished they hadn't gotten started smoking as a young person," said Clark, whose group is the largest law enforcement organization in the state. "This isn't a laughing or joking matter. It's serious and it's the law."

Minors caught the first time can take the awareness class. If the class is completed, the ticket can be wiped from their record. Minors caught a second time, or who don't attend the class, would have to pay a $125-$250 fine or lose their driver's license.

The third time a minor is caught with tobacco, a Class C misdemeanor would be filed. Class C misdemeanors are punishable by a fine up to $500.