By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – It’s now going to be very costly for stores if they sell tobacco products to anyone under 21 years of age, as several local stores recently found out the hard way.
Under a state law passed in December of 2019, the fines and penalties for selling tobacco products to anyone underage were increased dramatically. And the state regulation trumps any local ordinance that might still be on the books.
Maureen Busby, Tobacco Control Officer for the Health district that includes Wakefield and Melrose, told a joint meeting of the Boards of Health for the two communities that several stores in each community failed compliance checks in June by selling tobacco to a minor. Under the new state law, those stores were each fined $1,000 for a first violation.
Previously, the town’s penalties for underage selling have been as follows:
• First violation, $100 fine and no suspension of the store’s tobacco license
• Second violation (within a three-year period), $200 fine and a seven day suspension
• Third violation (within a three-year period) $300 fine and a 30-day license suspension.
Under the the new state regs, the penalty for a first violation is a $1,000 fine and a mandatory suspension of the tobacco license for a minimum of one day up to a maximum of 30 days. The fines for second and third violations during a three-year period are $2,000 and $5,000 respectively.
The new state law was passed just two months before COVID hit, and during the pandemic, compliance checks and enforcement had to be put on hold. As a result, Busby speculated, some stores may have gotten lax in their practices over the past 18 months.
She said that compliance checks were done last month for the first time since the start of the pandemic. She listed five stores in Wakefield that were caught selling tobacco products to minors: 7Eleven on Albion Street, EZ Cig Vapors on Albion Street, Quick Mart on Lowell Street, Wakefield Convenience on Elm Street and Salem Variety on Salem Street and S&M Liquors on Water Street. Two Melrose stores also failed compliance checks: West Wyomimg Market and Bob’s Market.
Busby said that the violation was waived for Salem Variety because the store has a new owner who had not the benefit of any education on the new law provided by the Health Department.
In addition, she said, the violations by EZ Cig Vapors, Quick Mart and Wakefield Convenience were second violations (as were the violations by West Wyoming Market and Bob’s Market in Melrose), and should have triggered a $2,000 fine. But in view of COVID and so many new elements of the law, Busby said that the three-year probation period was waived and each store was fined at the $1,000 rate for a first violation. For the same reasons, she said, license suspensions were waived. All of the stores were educated that the next violation will result in a $2,000 fine and a seven-day license suspension, as called for in the new state law.
Busby also called the boards’ attention to another significant change in the state law. Previously, store clerks were required to check the ID of anyone who looked 27 years old or younger trying to by tobacco. But under the new law, store clerks must card anyone buying tobacco products, regardless of age.
