Attorney General Eric Schneiderman hit six websites with cease-and-desist lawsuits yesterday, maintaining they sell cigarettes to minors.
Schneiderman sued companies like DiscountCigarettesDomestic.com and INeedSmoke.com for selling cigarettes online without checking that the buyer is over 18. There’s little to prevent underage online tobacco purchases, as many teens put in fake ID information when buying cigarettes online.
Not only do these companies freely sell smokes to kids, they also deprive the state of hundreds of millions in tax revenue as the sales are nearly always done tax-free.
Susan Kennedy, director of the Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island, applauded Schneiderman’s attack on underage smoking. Nassau County is emerging as the leader in New York State for anti-smoking initiatives: The town of Great Neck banned smoking on sidewalks last month, and a push to ban smoking on the Long Island Rail Road platforms is gaining
traction.
