NOT JUST BLOWING SMOKE

      CARSON CITY -- An anti-smoking advocate is questioning whether a bill outlawing the possession of cigarettes by minors would help reduce the number of teen-agers who light up.
      Senate Bill 33 would declare that anyone under the age of 18 who possesses cigarettes, cigarette paper or other tobacco products is guilty of a delinquent act. The measure was introduced Jan. 27 by Sen. Ernie Adler, D-Carson City.
      It is currently illegal in Nevada for stores to sell tobacco or tobacco products to minors, but not for minors to use or possess the products.
      Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has conducted a number of stings statewide to reinforce the message to store owners and clerks that cigarettes cannot be sold to minors, but kids lighting up near public schools can do so with impunity.
      Mandy Canales-Salazar, director of programs for the Las Vegas office of the American Cancer Society, said studies of such bans suggest they have no effect on teen smoking rates.
      "We need to ask ourselves whether we're putting a law in place to make a difference or putting a law in place because it looks good," she said.
      Such a measure would also take away the onus on tobacco retailers not to sell to minors and put it on the teens themselves, Canales-Salazar said.
      "It's really an adult's responsibility to make sure we don't sell tobacco products to minors," she said. "Why would we now put that responsibility on the minors?"
      Measures like SB33 could make it easier for lawmakers to avoid more controversial tobacco-related issues, Canales-Salazar said.
      But Adler said the main point of the bill is to send a message to minors that smoking is not permitted or condoned by the state.
      "What message does it send when Nevada, as a state, tolerates teen-age possession of tobacco," he said. "This is the basic issue."
      The sight of teen-agers congregated near their schools using unofficially designated smoking areas has angered many people, he said.
      "I don't want society to condone this," Adler said. "We have so many health problems in society because of smoking."
      Youths know they can legally smoke, and they dismiss any efforts by police or others to make them stop, he said.
      The bill is not intended as window dressing to appease anti-smoking groups without accomplishing anything, Adler said.
      Declaring a minor to be a delinquent has the same effect as a misdemeanor citation, he said. A minor cited by police would have to appear in juvenile court with his parents and take responsibility for his actions, he said.
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