Prevention Services & Programs
Programmatic Information
Synar
What is Synar?
In July 1992, Congress enacted the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Reorganization Act (Public Law 102-321). This legislation, which was reauthorized under the Children's Health Act of 2000, includes the Synar Amendment (section 1926) aimed at reducing access to tobacco products among individuals under age 18. The Amendment requires States and Territories to enact and enforce laws prohibiting any manufacturer, retailer, or distributor from selling or distributing tobacco products to individuals under the age of 18.
Synar Program Overview
Georgia has a comprehensive tobacco program in place that includes elements affecting youth access to tobacco and is based on strong collaborative partnerships, particularly between the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases (DMHDDAD) and the Department of Revenue (DOR). DOR has statutory responsibilities for carrying out the tobacco enforcement program, but DMHDDAD, Office of Prevention Services and Programs coordinates the overall program and prepares the Annual Synar Report. The Synar program includes statewide and regional activities.
KEY REQUIREMENTS OF THE REGULATION
The SAMHSA regulation implementing the Synar Amendment requires the State to:
- Have in effect a law prohibiting any manufacturer, retailer or distributor of tobacco products from selling or distributing such products to any individual under the age of 18.
- Enforce such laws in a manner that can reasonably be expected to reduce the extent to which tobacco products are available to individuals under the age of 18.
- Conduct annual random, unannounced inspections to ensure compliance with the law. These inspections are to be conducted in such a way as to provide a valid sample of outlets accessible to youth.
- Develop a strategy and timeframe for achieving an inspection failure rate of less than 20% of outlets accessible to youth.
- Submit an annual report detailing the State's activities to enforce their law, the overall success the State has achieved during the previous fiscal year (FY) in reducing tobacco availability to youth, describing how inspections were conducted and the methods to identify outlets, and plans for enforcing the law in the coming fiscal year.
The Secretary is required by statute to withhold all funds from States that have not enacted the required prohibitions and to decrease the annual Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant award for States that do not comply with the enforcement and reporting requirements
Enforcement
The Department will allow States the needed flexibility in determining which strategies are most appropriate for meeting the compliance standards and enforcement requirements of the regulation. States may implement tobacco licensing of retailers and penalties/fines. They are, however, not required to do so.
The Department requires that the State designate an agency within the State to be responsible for implementing the State law. Enforcement of the law may be done by enforcement agencies, Single State Agencies for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SSAs), State Health Departments, private entities or a combination of these and other organizations. The Department of Revenue is the enforcement agency in Georgia.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
In order to be eligible for Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant funds, ALL States must have a law prohibiting the sale or distribution of tobacco products to minors.
If the Secretary determines that a State did not comply with the enforcement stipulated in this regulation, the statute (42 USC 300X-26(c)) requires the Secretary to reduce by 40 percent that State's SAPT Block Grant allotment for non-compliance.
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