In 1992, Congress established the Synar Program to address youth illegally purchasing tobacco products. The Synar Program requires States, territories, and tribal entities to:
- Enforce underage tobacco and nicotine access laws to reduce the illegal sale of tobacco products to individuals under the age of 21.
- Conduct annual, unannounced inspections that provide a valid sample of tobacco sales outlets that are accessible to minors.
- Report how they randomly choose the stores and the results of the Synar survey as a part of the Annual Synar Report no later than December 31st.
- Maintain a tobacco and vape retail compliance rate of at least 80%. (Meaning that 80% or more of the retailers do not sell nicotine products to minors during the unannounced inspections.)
Synar inspections are conducted by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). ABC trains youth under the age of 21 to accompany ABC officers to stores and attempt to buy tobacco and nicotine products. Stores that sell to minors are cited and fined.
States that do not maintain violation rates below 20% could lose ten percent of their total Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant.
Since Synar inspections began in 1997, Kentucky’s violation rates have averaged 8.2%.
In addition to monitoring compliance of tobacco and nicotine retailers, the Kentucky Synar Program provides free online training and educational material to tobacco retailers and vape shops. The Tobacco Retail Underage Sales Training (TRUST) follows the FDA guidelines for effective merchant education. TRUST can be accessed through the
Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control website.
Tobacco 21 Toolkits, including signs and forms required by Kentucky state law, WE ID badges for employees, information on state and federal tobacco laws and preventing sales of tobacco and nicotine products to minors, are free for tobacco retailers. To order a tobacco toolkit please contact:
Steve.cambron@ky.gov