By:Jeff Lipton and Andrew Coen
Nassau County legislators Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) and Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) have proposed a law that would raise the county's legal age for buying cigarettes to 19. Called Tobacco 19, the law would make it harder for younger teenagers to successfully pretend to be 18, the legal age. One of the major aims of the law would be to prevent 18-year-olds from buying cigarettes for younger high school students, since a majority of 19-year-olds no longer attend high school.
The Suffolk County Legislature passed the measure, 18-0, last week, and it is awaiting the likely signature of the county executive, Steve Levy.
In Nassau, only six of the 19 legislators have said they support the measure, and Toback said he is working hard on his colleagues to get the necessary support of at least 10 votes. "We're still trying to get the votes, to cobble together enough votes to pass it," said Toback. "We have great public support for it. I think that some people are opposed to it and legislators are opposed to it because they think it's an infringement on personal freedom."
Toback said there are those who argue that if 18-year-olds are old enough to go to war, vote and drive a car, they are responsible enough to buy cigarettes. "We've given 18-year-olds some pretty big responsibilities, including the ability to buy cigarettes," he said. "But they have not proven to us that they are responsible enough not to give it to the 15-year-old."
At its Dec. 8 meeting, the Hewlett-Woodmere school board discussed the proposed tobacco legislation and agreed to draft a letter to Toback in support of it. But the board plans to include in the letter its concerns about how to enforce such a law.
"All community members, children and adults, should consider healthy choices with regard to their lives," said Hewlett-Woodmere school board President Howard Weinick. "We are an educational organization, and to that end have written to county legislator Jeffrey Toback to support the concept of this legislation."
The letter reads, in part: "We believe that it is important that funding and other resources be available to appropriately enforce the existing and new legislation; severe penalties must exist and be imposed upon those who knowingly sell tobacco products to under age young people; financial support should be provided for educational programs that result in healthy choices and cessation of use of tobacco products; and funding should be provided for pro-active programs in schools."
Trustee Teena Ditchek Korman, who suggested sending the letter, was asked by other board members if she thought the law would be effective. "Teena, do you think a 16-year-old is still not going to get cigarettes?" asked board member Jill Stern.
Board member Steve Witt said that by talking to students and finding out where they get their cigarettes, he discovered that "it was the exception rather than the rule when [younger students] got it from an 18-year-old."
Hewlett High School PTA Co-President Teri Stein said she didn't think the proposed law would work, since her 17-year-old son is able to buy cigarettes in all the local stores. "I think anything that will deter children from smoking is great, but I don't think it will matter, because if kids want to smoke, they are going to find a way to get cigarettes," Stein told the board. "Don't kid yourself if you really think that this is going to change the environment of smoking for kids."
Lawrence school board President Kathy Raquet-Barry said she plans to discuss the legislation with the rest of the board, but she also expressed reservations about whether it would work. "I found that having adolescents of my own, that if they want to do something, they are going to find a way to do it," she said. "As a society, we have to really try to be a part of the solution."
Lawrence Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons said he wishes the legal age for smoking would be raised to 21. "Anything we could do to discourage [smoking] is worth doing," said Fitzsimons, who was one of the first administrators in Connecticut to ban smoking on school grounds when he was a superintendent there.
"The longer you prevent them from smoking, the better," said Lawrence High School PTA Co-President Marcia Ringelheim.
Hewlett High School senior Mike Brietman, who will soon turn 18, said, "I don't smoke, so it doesn't affect me, but I think [the law] is a good idea, because I'm disgusted when I walk by people smoking on the corner."
Amanda Keyam, another Hewlett High senior, said, "I think it's a good idea to try."
Freshman Linda Kim said, "It's probably a good idea in a way, but I don't think it will make much of a difference, because people will still do it anyway."
Toback said he hopes that by this time next year, the proposal will become law in Nassau County. "If it passes, it would show that Nassau County is strongly committed to public-health issues," he said. "I would like to show that public health is a priority in Nassau County."
Toback said that he interprets buying cigarettes for a minor under the criminal code as unlawfully endangering the welfare of a minor.
If storekeepers sell cigarettes to minors, they can be fined and lose their licenses to sell cigarettes.
The owner of Circle A Convenience Store, at 305 Rockaway Turnpike in North Lawrence, who identified himself only as Kahn, said he believes the law would be a good one. "It's better to have older customers [buying cigarettes], because they give you less problems," he said. "A lot of times, the younger people will get upset when we ask for ID. But we have to protect ourselves."
"I am confident we will get support for this," Toback said of Tobacco 19. "Having it enacted in Suffolk County gives us a real shot in the arm."
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