Kids under the age of 18 years find it very easy in Philadelphia to buy cigarettes illegally. Local high school students pose as customers and succeed in one fourth of their tries to buy cigarettes in one of the city's 4,300 tobacco retailers.

Having one of the highest underage smoking rates among large cities, Philadelphia out of concern has launched a new program that places workers of health departments into corner stores and Chinese restaurants for a one-on-one session with retailers who are caught selling cigarettes to under-age teens.

The program comes with an offer change the fines to more than twice its original amount for under-age smoking, i. e. from $100 to $250 and further up to $2,000 per violation. That would put the fines in accordance with the newly suggested federal fines for the sales of underage tobacco.

The present fine amount of $100, notwithstanding the number of violations, is considered a joke. Many support the new fines which will go for vote to the City Council today.

The percentage of under-age teenage smokers in Philadelphia has reached 7.4% on a daily basis, as was found out in a yearly study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.