According to the report, "Synar Amendment Implementation: Quality of State Data on Reducing Youth Access to Tobacco Could Be Improved," enforcement of the Synar amendment varies widely among U.S. states.

Under the 1992 Synar amendment, states must have and enforce laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors. In addition, states are required to conduct random inspections of retail outlets, and report their findings to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA could deny addiction block-grant funds to states that fail to meet targets for retailer compliance.

The report found four deficient factors that impacted the quality of violation-rate data that states submitted to SAMHSA for fiscal years 1998 and 1999: many states used inaccurate or incomplete lists of over-the-counter and vending machine outlets to create their inspection samples; some states allowed minors as young as age 14-15 to participate in "buy operations" to uncover illegal tobacco sales to minors; SAMHSA accepted violation data from four states even though it contained incomplete information in terms of age and outcome of inspections; and SAMHSA also failed to adequately verify states' reports of data.

Because of the flaws, the GAO report said it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of efforts required under the Synar amendment.

The report strongly recommended that SAMHSA enhance efforts to help states improve the validity of their enforcement data. It also calls on SAMHSA to work with states to develop a standardized inspection protocol consistent with state law and more uniform implementation across states.

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