NEIGHBORHOOD STORE ASSOCIATION

Fall 2009     

Vol. 11 No. 2

The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently released the 2008 federal fiscal year Synar Report on Youth Tobacco Sales for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Under the regulations implementing the Synar Amendment, States and other jurisdictions must report annually to SAMHSA on their retailer violation rates, which represent the percentage of inspected retail outlets that sold tobacco products to a customer under the age of 18. The amendment requires that retailer violation rates not exceed 20 percent. States and jurisdictions measure their progress through random, unannounced inspections of tobacco retailers, and SAMHSA provides technical assistance to help states comply.

Major findings of the report:

• National weighted average rate of tobacco sales to minors (retailer violation rate) dropped to 9.9 percent for FFY 2008, the lowest RVR in Synar’s 12-year history. In 1997, the weighted average rate was 40.1 percent.
• FFY 2008 is the third year in Synar history that no State was out of compliance with the Synar Regulation.
• In FFY 2008, 46 of the 51 (50 States and District of Columbia) achieved retailer violation rates below 15 percent and 26 of the 51 achieved RVR below 10 percent. Oregon’s reported RVR was 15.6 percent.

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