Availability of cigarettes to under-age youth in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Ninety-three percent of surveyed Fond du Lac School District students reported cigarettes as being "fairly easy" to "easy" to obtain. Easy access to cigarettes from retail outlets may be instrumental in the inordinately high local prevalence of under-age smoking. Fourteen-year-old youths were trained to attempt purchases of cigarettes from all cigarette outlets in the city of Fond du Lac. Information relating to the purchase attempts was recorded and analyzed. Our 60% purchase success rate stems from purchases at 77% of vending machines and 43% of over-the-counter outlets. Sales from taverns accounted for approximately 25% of the totals. Our results are consistent with other studies and argue for retailer education and systematic enforcement of policies that address underage purchase of cigarettes from licensed outlets including those that otherwise proscribe minors from entering.