The National Committee against Smoking reveals, Thursday, March 10, the level of non-compliance with the prohibition. The first regulatory measure is yet from twenty years ago.
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Despite the prohibition, two-thirds of the balarists (64%) continue to sell tobacco to minors. This is the result of a study conducted in 2021 by the National Committee against Smoking, published on Thursday, March 10, which highlights a “stagnation” of the results obtained from the last investigation, conducted in 2019.
According to the study, 70% of the desktop visited do not request the age of their client and 15% of them, informed of the age of the minor, agree to sell him tobacco. The situation is more worrying in large cities: only 23% of the peeles of cities over 15,000 inhabitants refuse to sell to minors, compared to 48% for cities of less than 3,500 inhabitants. In France, however, the law prohibits the sale of tobacco at the age of 16 since 2003, and at least 18 years since 2009.
The study is linked to an overall project, funded by the Addictions Fund, as part of a national tobacco program. “The goal is to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2030. That is, less than 5% of young people arriving at the age of majority in 2030 consume tobacco”, explains Emmanuelle Beguinot , Director of the National Committee against Smoking.
Too rare controls
The survey was conducted through 403 mystery visits in November 2021. The visits are made in pairs with a 17-year-old who comes to buy the tobacco, and an adult accompanier responsible for checking the signage relative to the prohibition of sales to minors. The results obtained highlight a degradation on this second point. Two three-to-three tobacco offices have a poster indicating the prohibition, but only 42% have a visible poster and in accordance with the current decree, compared to 49% in 2019.
An “unacceptable” situation for M me Beguinot, while a “awareness effort” was conducted with the balalists. The committee advocates more controls, too few, according to it, or even non-existent. “The profession of tobacco debitants has been very assisted and financed by the public authorities, through the contracts of the future, the aid to diversification, or the increase in remuneration. In exchange, they were supposed to respect the legislation in vigor “, comments M me Beguinot.
“Smoking is a pediatric epidemic, nothing can justify that a massively subsidized profession persists in these illegal practices, dissuasive sanctions must be applied,” Yves Martinet insists, chairman of the committee. “There have been administrative closures for the non-control of the sanitary passes. We ask for an effective device: the withdrawal or suspension of the license when there is recurrence,” adds M me beguinot .
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