DATE: Monday, April 28, 1997                TAG: 9704280066
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   42 lines

STATE COULD BE USING TEENAGERS IN SMOKING STINGS BY JULY

Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control could be using youths as early as this summer in sting operations to catch retailers selling tobacco to underage smokers, said Neal Graham, Virginia's director of tobacco use control programs.

By late June or July, Virginia ABC agents should be checking how well stores are complying with the first of the federal Food and Drug Administration's rules on tobacco sales - a requirement that store clerks make sure they aren't selling to minors by checking IDs of all cigarette buyers under the age of 27.

``It is full speed ahead now,'' Graham said.

The state will ask the FDA to commission ABC agents to check on the carding requirement in the next few weeks, he said.

If ABC agents find a clerk breaking state law on carding cigarette buyers, they can issue a citation. The clerk faces fines of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense and $500 or more for additional offenses, Graham said.

In addition, the agents would notify the FDA if they see violations of the federal law. A first offense gets a warning from the FDA, while a second offense means a $250 fine for the store owner.

Guidelines the FDA sent to state officials this month specified that state undercover teams would use 15- and 16-year-olds to catch merchants who sell tobacco products to minors or fail to check their identification.

The crackdown on illegal tobacco sales also is likely to snag underage buyers of alcohol in Virginia. The state's draft plan for enforcing tobacco laws is built partly on a little-used program for using teen-agers in undercover investigations of underage alcohol sales.

``Naturally, while we are enforcing tobacco laws, at the same time we will be enforcing alcohol laws,'' said Clarence W. Roberts, a member of the Virginia ABC Board who is a former field agent.

The draft enforcement plan includes a public awareness campaign, training for retailers, undercover investigations and follow-up enforcement against violators.

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