Health advocates Tuesday testified in favor of a Baltimore County proposal to crack down on stores selling tobacco products to minors and shift enforcement away from police.
The proposal creates a civil penalty system to curb underage smoking, said Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville Democrat who drafted the legislation. Store owners who sell products to anyone under 18 would be fined $300 for the first offense, and subsequent violations would incur a $500 fine. Stores would be required to keep tobacco products in areas only accessible to employees.
Similar laws are already on the books but aren?t enforced, said Christine Schutzman, director of a smoking education program for adolescents at St. Joseph?s Medical Center.
And kids know that, she said.
“What I consistently hear is that they are able to buy their own cigarettes, that they can shoplift cigars and other tobacco rolling and smoking paraphernalia,” Schutzman said. “That is a big way they are able to start smoking.”
Under the proposal, enforcement of age restrictions on tobacco sales ? which Kamenetz said isn?t a priority for police ? would transfer to the county?s health department. Employees (other than owners) could face fines of $50 for the first violation and $100 for each subsequent violation.
Kamenetz said he envisions county-orchestrated sting operations to nab stores that don?t request ID.
Under state law, selling tobacco products to minors is punishable by a $300 fine the first time, and up to $3,000 for subsequent violations. But more and more jurisdictions, including six in Maryland, are transferring enforcement to local health departments, said Michael Strande, the deputy director of the Legal Resource Center for Tobacco Regulation, Litigation and Advocacy at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Strande and others urged the council to pass the bill, which is scheduled for vote Monday. Five of the council?s seven members have signed on as sponsors.
