The FDA's enforcement of age restrictions on the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.

The nation's largest tobacco age-restriction enforcement program is described. Between 1997 and 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration--working with state agencies--conducted nearly 200,000 compliance checks in 123,000 establishments in 44 states, 1 territory, and Washington, D.C. The overall violation rate was 26 percent (more than 40,000 violations), ranging from 9 percent in Maine to 54 percent in the Virgin Islands. Due to the recent Supreme Court ruling, the FDA has stopped conducting these checks and is shutting down its tobacco program. The protocol described in this article will prove useful to others conducting compliance checks and seeking to keep tobacco out of the hands of children.