Kids are finding it much easier to buy tobacco products these days, despite laws that regulate the sale of tobacco to minors. A study conducted in 2008 found that 17 percent of stores that sell tobacco in Santa Cruz County sold to minors without first asking for ID. Just two years later, 27 percent of the 142 stores visited sold tobacco to minors. Of these, 19 stores were in walking distance of a school or afterschool facility.
The areas with most egregious offenses were in the unincorporated parts of the county. In Soquel, for instance, 67 percent of the stores surveyed sold to minors, while half the stores in Aptos did. In Live Oak, the number was slightly less than half, or 47 percent. Santa Cruz City itself was just about the average at 26 percent. The best results came from Watsonville, where only 10 percent of stores sold tobacco products to underage buyers.
Peter Nichols of the Santa Cruz County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission says that the problem lies with enforcement. Although laws banning the sales are on the books, there is not enough manpower to enforce them.
Natasha Kowalski of the Santa Cruz County Tobacco Education Coalition suggests that other cities and unincorporated areas take a lesson from Watsonville. That city recently passed a $255 licensing fee for stores selling tobacco, with part of the money used to cover the costs of decoy operations. The law was passed after the police conducted a decoy operation this past spring in which half the stores visited willingly sold tobacco to minors. According to the new law, violators are fined $1,000 for a first offense and $5,000 for a second offense. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
