Sales of tobacco products to minors are at the lowest level in years, reported USA Today in a story citing a government study.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study shows the national rate of tobacco sales to minors was 9.9 per cent in fiscal 2008, compared with 16.3 per cent in 2002 and 40.1 per cent in 1997, the newspaper said on its web site. It also shows all 50 states are in compliance with the Synar Amendment, USA Today reported.
Named after former Rep. Mike Synar of Oklahoma, the federal regulation requires states to control the sale of tobacco products to minors.
"States are reporting the lowest rate of tobacco sales to youth in the 12 years since the Synar program," Susan Marsiglia Gray, national Synar coordinator, told USA Today. (pi)