WASHINGTON - A new report on the federal and state partnership aimed at ending illegal tobacco sales to minors shows that all the states and the District of Columbia have continued to meet their goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth (those under 18). The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which sponsors the Synar program, shows that the average national retailer violation rate of tobacco sales is down to 8.5%, the lowest level in the history of the program.

"As the recent Surgeon General??s Report on Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults notes, smoking is the nation??s leading cause of preventable death. We must pursue every opportunity to prevent kids and young adults of today from becoming life-long adult smokers of tomorrow," said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, in a press release. "The success of the Synar program is a testament to how preventing underage youth from gaining illegal access to tobacco products can have a tremendous impact."

The Synar Amendment (introduced by the late Rep. Mike Synar and enacted as Section 1926 of the federal Public Health Service Act) requires states and U.S. jurisdictions to have laws and enforcement programs for prohibiting the sale and distribution of tobacco to persons under 18. The program is part of SAMHSA strategic initiative on preventing substance abuse and mental illness.

For the sixth year in a row, no state was found out of compliance with the Synar regulation. In fact, 12 of the 51 states achieved a retailer violation rate below 5%, up from 9 states in fiscal year 2010. Thirty-four states achieved a retailer violation rate below 10%.

These rates continue to stand in sharp contrast with the situation 15 years ago at the Synar program??s inception when the highest reported state retailer violation rate was 72.7%.