Despite being underage, 16-year-old RaeNa Johnson regularly buys cigarettes. And she gets paid to do it. Johnson is one of ten youth surveyors, ages 15 to 17, hired by Health Promotion Council (HPC) to try to buy tobacco products. As part of the Tobacco Control Program, HPC receives funds from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to monitor Philadelphia-based stores for compliance with the Youth Access Law, which prohibits tobacco sales to those under age 18. HPC recruits and trains youth surveyors who must maintain a B average in school. Once trained, a new teen shadows a veteran youth surveyor for a day or two. Youth are paid an attractive $10 per hour.

Johnson can visit 25 stores in three hours. “So many clerks sell to me without hesitation,” she says. Last year, 23.5% of Philadelphia stores and 17.9% of stores in Delaware County sold tobacco products to youth surveyors. Johnson likes the fact that when a store is fined “we’re teaching a lesson.” Clerks often will ask for identification, but only some will decline to sell to her. “Amazingly, merchants will ask for ID, but then not look at the date of birth,” says HPC’s program manager, Lauren Gemberling. Youth surveyors are instructed not to lie if a clerk asks for age or identification.

Teens who successfully buy tobacco products simply leave the store and report the sale to an adult surveyor, who accompanies them on every visit and waits for them outside the store. The adult surveyor completes a form, noting what product was purchased and a description of the clerk who sold it. Philadelphia merchants who sell to teens receive a $250 citation. The report, along with the tobacco product, becomes evidence that can be used if a merchant chooses to appeal the citation in court. In the surrounding seven counties, store owners and clerks each can be fined from $100 to $500. Some stores have a zero tolerance policy: if a clerk is caught selling tobacco to minors, the store fires the clerk immediately. All first-time merchant offenders receive a face-to-face 30-minute information session to ensure comprehension of the law.

More than one-third of youth smokers purchase their own cigarettes.

Often, stores will sell individual cigarettes, or “loosies,” usually two for $1. Merchants cited for selling loosies receive an additional $250 fine. A teen surveyor who notices that the merchant has loosies for sale may ask to buy some. “We stress to the teens that they should go with what feels comfortable to them as they interact with the merchant,” says Gemberling. “They stare at me for about seven seconds, and then they just go reach for the cigarettes and hand them to me,” says Johnson. “They obviously don’t care about health or that we could get addicted to nicotine at a young age.”

According to the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the regular smoking rate, defined as smoking during at least 20 of the past 30 days, among Philadelphia youth was 3.6%, representing the highest rate among large US cities. Youth smoking rates vary by racial/ethnic group. White youth are much more likely to smoke (15.6%) than Latino (3.1%) or black youth (1.2%). Furthermore, more than one-third of youth smokers in Philadelphia purchase their own cigarettes—the highest proportion among large US cities.

Philadelphia City Council voted in December 2010 to amend Philadelphia’s youth access ordinance to increase the fine structure for those merchants that violate this ordinance by selling tobacco to minors under the age of 18. This represents significant movement toward changing the climate in the city around tobacco-related issues including sales to minors. Johnson testified before City Council about her experiences as a youth surveyor and the frequency with which she is able to purchase illegally as an underage minor.

HPC is both the Southeast Regional Primary Contractor for the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Tobacco Control Program as well as the contracted agency for tobacco enforcement in the City of Philadelphia. It runs compliance checks on about 4,200 merchants within Philadelphia, along with roughly 1,200 Delaware County and Lancaster County stores.

In addition to trying to limit access to tobacco, HPC works with schools in the seven-county southeast region of the state. “Instead of going into schools and doing a single presentation, we work with school districts to build the capacity of schools with the goal to ultimately change social norms among teens,” says Gemberling. HPC helps train school administrators and staff on tobacco addiction, its effects on the adolescent brain, and writing and implementing effective tobacco policies. HPC’s Tobacco Control Program website provides resources and information for schools, community-based organizations, healthcare providers and the community at large on tobacco control issues and schedules for cessation classes throughout the region.

Visit hpcpa.org to learn more about HPC’s tobacco programs.