Feature Article

Since 2004, Sacramento, California has been cracking down on retailers that sell tobacco to minors by suspending their tobacco sales licenses. Sacramento's ordinance, like those of other cities in California and elsewhere, provides that a retailer's tobacco license can be suspended for thirty days the first time the establishment is caught selling tobacco products to a minor. Though some retail stores believe that the penalty is too harsh, the chairperson of the Tobacco Retail Licensing Task Force in Sacramento maintains that businesses will not get serious about curbing tobacco sales to minors if they are merely penalized with a fine. The major decrease in business that occurs when a tobacco license is suspended is the incentive retailers need to strictly comply with tobacco laws. For more on this story from the Sacramento Bee, click here.

The Healthy People 2010 initiative, a project of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is aiming to increase the number of states that suspend or revoke tobacco retail licenses for illegal sales to minors. This is part of a comprehensive plan to reduce tobacco use by youth. The Healthy People 2010 tobacco-related objectives are listed here. The report states: "Although all States prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors, enforcement of laws has been limited until recent years . . . . Not all States have retail licensure systems. Among those that do, not all will suspend or revoke licenses for violation of State minors' access laws."

Currently, twenty-seven states and DC have laws that revoke or suspend licenses of retailers who sell tobacco products to minors. Ohio law does not follow this trend. The maximum penalty in Ohio for selling tobacco products to minors is a fine of $500 and/or 60 days in jail. However, a handful of Ohio communities have passed ordinances that permit authorities to suspend tobacco licenses if the retailer sells tobacco products to minors. The strictest ordinance is in Twinsburg, which is located between Akron and Cleveland. In Twinsburg, a tobacco retailer's license can be suspended for 3 days on the first violation for selling tobacco products to minors. Even this short suspension gets the message across that Twinsburg is serious about limiting youth access to tobacco.

Any statewide plan to reduce tobacco use is not complete without an effective way to reduce youth access. Legislators should push for a statewide policy to suspend the licenses of retailers who sell tobacco products to minors. Localities should also consider passing ordinances that would suspend retail tobacco licenses of businesses that sell tobacco products to youth. The Technical Assistance Legal Consortium in California has developed a model retail licensure ordinance for California communities. An outline of the model ordinance can be viewed here. For more information about adapting this model to Ohio law, contact the Tobacco Public Policy Center.