Tobacco Control: Prevention Insights

The Synar Program

In July 1992, the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Reorganization Act (P.L. 102-321) became law, which includes the Synar amendment (section 1926) aimed at decreasing youth access to tobacco. At this time, all states must show that their retailer violation rate is below 20 percent. Failure to comply with the Synar regulations can result in the loss of up to 40 percent of a State’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPT-BG).

In Indiana, the Synar Program is overseen by the FSSA Division of Mental Health and Addiction which is also responsible for administering the SAPT-BG funds.

DMHA has contracted with Prevention Insights at Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington to administer the work related to the Synar survey and creation of an annual report documenting how the survey is conducted.

Results of over 20 years of monitoring show the fluctuations of the retailer violation rate (blue bars) relative to the average number of inspections completed each month in Indiana:

For more general information about the Synar Program, see https://www.samhsa.gov/synar/about
For details about Synar requirements, see https://www.samhsa.gov/synar/requirements
For details about DMHA Synar reports, see https://www.in.gov/fssa/dmha/3045.htm