Teenagers Buy Smokeless Tobacco Products

Fewer teens are smoking cigarettes these days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Spartanburg, 73 percent of ninth- and 11th-grade youth surveyed thought it was "wrong for youth their age to smoke cigarettes," and 88.3 percent thought it was a "great risk" to smoke one or more packs per day, according to the 2010 youth survey conducted by the Spartanburg Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. But now, drug advocates are concerned about a different form of tobacco. It comes in a circular can in a variety of flavors — wintergreen, mint, cherry, cinnamon. Users pack it against their gums and often spit it into a soda bottle. "We are seeing a large trend among young white males who have moved from cigarettes to dip tobacco," said Mary Lynn Tollison with SADAC. Youth seem to have a relatively easier time accessing the product, too, even though the legal purchase age for any tobacco is 18. SADAC has sent underage youth into convenience stores to try to buy various drugs — such as cigarettes, alcohol, etc. If the merchant completes the transaction, they will promptly be ticketed. Last year, with a new grant from the United Way, these compliance checks in Spartanburg began focusing on smokeless tobacco. Tollison said the results weren't good. She said 16.9 percent of underage teenagers walked out with newly purchased dip in their hands. The age group most commonly sold to? 15-year-olds.