Assembly bill would punish teenagers caught with tobacco

Friday, June 19, 1998

By OVETTA WIGGINS
Trenton Bureau

A day after U.S. senators rejected a bill intended to curb teenage smoking by punishing the makers of cigarettes, two New Jersey assemblymen introduced a measure with similar intentions -- except that they seek to punish the young smokers instead.

Under the proposed legislation -- which is opposed by statewide anti-smoking groups -- it would become illegal for a person under the age of 18 to "purchase or possess" cigarettes or tobacco products in public. Penalties range from ordering the youngster to participate in an anti-smoking education class to suspending or postponing the smoker's driving privileges.

"Our hope is that by outlawing underage smoking we will be able to reduce the number of teens who currently smoke and dramatically reduce the number of teens who would have begun to smoke," said Assemblyman Joseph Suliga, D-Union, co-sponsor of the legislation with Assemblyman Guy Gregg, R-Morris. "We cannot accept the status quo. We cannot sit back and allow children to fall prey to this deadly addiction."

But anti-smoking groups that have pushed for measures they believe will deter teen smoking -- including the recently enacted cigarette tax increase -- say this legislation is misdirected. Some said that it could give cigarettes more of a "forbidden fruit" image.

"Adults make the money in this scenario, so adults should be the ones held accountable for selling the products to minors," said Paul Wallner, chairman of New Jersey Breathes, an anti-tobacco coalition that includes the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. "Criminalization is a thinly veiled attempt by the tobacco industry to shift responsibility for making, marketing, and selling a deadly product.

"Kids that smoke are not criminals. They're victims of companies that deliberately target and manipulate them."

The state lawmakers, who say the measure is not punitive, are following the lead of town officials who over the past several years have enacted ordinances that make it illegal for teenagers to smoke. Flemington enacted the state's first ordinance banning smoking by teenagers in 1995. Since then 18 other towns, including Ridgewood and Little Ferry, have issued bans.

"It's difficult for those teens who've been smoking for four or five years," said Ridgewood Mayor Patrick Mancuso. "But if we can get some of those from starting, then we have something. The intent of this law is to educate and not to punish."

According to a survey by the state Department of Health and Senior Services, the average age of the first use of tobacco products among children in New Jersey is about 11 1/2.

Mancuso said Ridgewood police have issued an average of 20 summonses each month since the ordinance was enacted in September. Only one teenager, he said, has received a fourth summons, which requires attending an education program paid for by the violator's parents.

Under the proposed Assembly bill, a teenager could be ordered on his first offense to spend 30 hours in community service, a tobacco education program, or both. A second or subsequent offense would result in a suspension or postponement of the violator's driving license for three months.

The U.S. Senate bill, which could not get enough support among Republican lawmakers, would have increased the price of cigarettes and given the federal government the authority to regulate tobacco advertising and marketing. It also would have imposed penalties on cigarette makers if the rate of teenage smoking did not fall to specified levels.