Relaxed local law enforcement blamed for flouting of law
Hollister – Thirty-three percent of all San Benito County retailers who carry tobacco products are selling them to minors, compared to a statewide average of 10 percent, according to a recent study released by the county Health and Human Services Agency.
Forty-two stores were identified as selling tobacco products – including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and cigars. Of those, 14 attempted to sell to a person under 18. County public health officials declined to release the names of the 14 stores, and the Free Lance has filed a public records request to gain access to the list.
Health and Human Services Project Director Samela Perez said the stores know the law. The problem, she said, is enforcement.
“We believe the stores know that it’s illegal to sell tobacco to minors,” said Perez. “The law is over 100 years old. We can only attribute these figures to the fact that there’s simply no enforcement.”
According to state law, retailers can be fined up to $300 for a first offense, and repeat offenders can be fined up to $6,000. While Health and Human Services can warn offenders and thank those establishments that did not attempt to sell tobacco products to minors, they do not have the authority to enforce the law. Enforcement authority falls on local law enforcement agencies, but are rarely attended to.
“Tobacco use by minors is a problem,” said police Chief Jeff Miller. “But our prevention program has been cut, and we have to weigh occurrences of sales to minors against gang violence and drunk driving. Unfortunately, it becomes a low priority.”
Sheriff Curtis Hill said he did not believe it was the responsibility of his department to enforce tobacco laws.
“In 29 years I’ve never booked anyone on anything in violation of the tobacco laws,” said Sheriff Curtis Hill. “My deputy sheriffs and I are not the smoking police.”
Last May, Health and Human Services enlisted the aid of local teenagers from San Benito and San Andreas high schools, as well as volunteers from the San Benito County Youth Alliance, in a decoy operation to identify retailers who were not enforcing the law.
The students attempted to ask for cigarettes, but were not allowed to actually exchange money with the retailer. Volunteers were not allowed to lie, and had to furnish proper I.D. upon request. Some retailers sold the students cigarettes anyway, and some advised them to have an older customer purchase the cigarettes on their behalf.
“This is the first time one of our stores has failed the test,” said Jim Gibson, owner of Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, one of the stores caught in the sting. “We emphasize the importance of carding, but ultimately it’s the personal decision of the individual clerk. I hope it gets to the point where we don’t have to sell cigarettes any more. They can declare them illegal, and that’s just fine with me.”
While tobacco sales to minors have decreased statewide over the past 10 years, San Benito County is seeing the highest occurrence of such sales in five years. In an attempt to reverse that trend, Perez has proposed an ordinance mandating that tobacco retailers pay for a license in order to continue selling tobacco on the premises, similar to a liquor license.
The fees would pay for sting operations to ensure minors are not being sold alcohol. If a license were revoked, the retailer would not be allowed to sell cigarettes within city limits. Forty-two cities and counties in California have already successfully adopted such ordinances.
“I think it’s a great idea, and I am 100 percent behind it,” said Robert Scattini, one of the city council members approached by Health and Human Services with the idea. “The way it is now you can see high school freshman smoking on almost any city street.”
Not everyone is so enthused about the proposal, however. Local retailers fear such a fee would drive small business out of town, leaving only major chains selling tobacco products and thereby limiting options for the consumer. Several public officials are skeptical about the matter as well.
“I’m not sure that licensing is the answer,” said County Health Officer Dr. Elizabeth Falade. “We’d like for the state to impose a licensing law, instead of leaving the 58 jurisdictions to do all the hard work on their own. The state needs to take the lead in this.”
“The addition of a law without more resources could be problematic,” said Miller. “The real problem is a staffing issue. We’d love to go out there and do decoy operations, but it takes manpower.”
Interestingly, the state has found that the most violations happen in unexpected places. Gift store and donut shops were the most common locations for underage purchases. Ice cream trucks make a up a large portion of illegal sales too, according to Ken August, spokesperson for the California Department of Health Services.
“It’s kind of insidious, really,” he said. “That they can sell you an ice cream cone and a pack of Camels. It’s like ‘do you want sprinkles or lung cancer?'”
