Court date set for Gurnee store clerk who sold cigarettes to a minor
Gurnee authorities weren’t blowing smoke when they announced a crackdown on local stores who sell tobacco products to minors. While most merchants and their employees appear to have taken the mandate seriously, a recent check of 27 Gurnee businesses found one worker in violation of the edict.
Police used a 16-year-old Warren Township High School student as a decoy to see if a Gurnee Fuel Stop employee would allow her buy tobacco products. Twenty-year-old Christopher Perez took the bait and sold the girl a pack of cigarettes. A December 27 court date is scheduled for Perez.
The health warnings listed on cigarette packages run off by printing companies may deter some kids from smoking, but they by no means sway all minors from lighting up. An estimated 3,450 children between age 12 and 17, try their first cigarette each day in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC.) Nearly 25 percent of kids under age 18 become daily smokers. The majority of adult smokers started using tobacco during their teen years.
Although smoking rates among kids dropped sharply from 1997 to 2003, a growing number of high school students report using smokeless tobacco products as of late. Teens who chew tobacco are more likely to smoke cigarettes as adults.
Reducing teen smoking requires community interventions that restrict commercial availability of cigarettes and tobacco products to minors, like the ongoing effort in Gurnee. Anti-smoking promotions might benefit from the services of brochure printers to create images and warnings that may aid in discouraging kids from experimenting with that first cigarette.
Police used a 16-year-old Warren Township High School student as a decoy to see if a Gurnee Fuel Stop employee would allow her buy tobacco products. Twenty-year-old Christopher Perez took the bait and sold the girl a pack of cigarettes. A December 27 court date is scheduled for Perez.
The health warnings listed on cigarette packages run off by printing companies may deter some kids from smoking, but they by no means sway all minors from lighting up. An estimated 3,450 children between age 12 and 17, try their first cigarette each day in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC.) Nearly 25 percent of kids under age 18 become daily smokers. The majority of adult smokers started using tobacco during their teen years.
Although smoking rates among kids dropped sharply from 1997 to 2003, a growing number of high school students report using smokeless tobacco products as of late. Teens who chew tobacco are more likely to smoke cigarettes as adults.
Reducing teen smoking requires community interventions that restrict commercial availability of cigarettes and tobacco products to minors, like the ongoing effort in Gurnee. Anti-smoking promotions might benefit from the services of brochure printers to create images and warnings that may aid in discouraging kids from experimenting with that first cigarette.