Researchers in North Carolina asked 11 teens between the ages of 14 and 17 to try to buy ecigarettes from the most popular online vendors. All told, minors tried 98 times to purchase these illicit cigs and were successful about 75 percent of the time. When they weren’t able to buy ecigarettes, the problem more often was the result of a glitch in the website than because of the prospective buyer’s age. In fact, teens actually were prevented from buying ecigarettes because of age only five times.
Part of the problem, researchers say, is the myriad state laws regulating ecigarette use. “Without strictly enforced federal regulations, online ecigarette vendors have little motivation to decrease profits by spending the time and money it takes to properly verify customers’ ages and reject underage buyers,” says study author Rebecca S. Williams, public health researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Time)