SEARCY, AR. (LP) —  There are 13 tobacco stores in Searcy Arkansas. All must be 18 years of age or older to buy from. Many stores in White County have had a issue with not carding minors. Younger teens are walking in and walking out with juul pods, cigarettes and pom poms. Why is this a issues for Searcy students? SHS students that drive are more than likely will be sold tobacco at these stores, just because these students are able to drive they may seem older.

Over 11% of underage students are either smoking cigarettes or vaping. More than 480,000 underage students die due to smoking and secondhand smoke. One of the students stated, “ I don’t ever get carded at tobacco stores since I’ve started driving.” Which tobacco stores should card every person no matter if they look of age or not. It’s a state law to card everyone if working in a store with items like those. Another SHS student stated, “I don’t really think it is my fault they sale to me, If they paid more attention maybe less students could get items like cigarettes and pom poms.” Even though some students may have people buy them things like alcohol it could get the person who bought minors a misdemeanor offense which could be a felony charge under certain circumstances. All students think it is okay to go through the drive thru and lie about their birth-dates to get items isn’t okay. It’s just as much as the students fault than the stores because, they know the law and know they are underage. Searcy tobacco stores need to be looked into more firmly to stop bigger things from happening. Minors get caught everyday with illegal items on them and only makes circumstances worse for teens. Another student stated, “I see my friends go through the drive thru and give a fake birth-date and get packs of pom poms and cigarettes just because they drive, I don’t see how because when you drive you have to have a driver license with proof it’s you.” Which is a very strong argument because that is a law also and if your driving you should have proof of identity. Many minors are getting in trouble because of tobacco stores selling items to them not making sure they are of age. Another student said, “I believe students should be  smarter on how they do things because purchasing items knowing your not suppose to have is not a good thing and could lead students down wrong paths.” Tobacco stores could be selling to these minors not knowing what damage they are causing and it needs to be noticed.