Stings target cigarette sales

Stores risk heavy fines if they’re caught selling tobacco to any customers under the age of 18.

A teenager walked into a Snohomish County store and asked to buy a pack of smokes.While the teen shopped, health officials and tobacco regulators secretly monitored the transaction.The buy was a sting, part of an annual compliance check to ensure that retailers are abiding by state tobacco rules, which prohibit their sale to anyone under 18.

Had the clerk sold the pack of cigarettes without first checking a valid identification card, the clerk and the business owner both could face fines. 
The cost to a teen who takes up a cigarette-smoking habit could be a lifelong addiction to nicotine, Snohomish County health officials said.
“Addiction to tobacco products often starts during adolescence. People pay a steep price for this addiction, with long-term illness and shortened lives,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, the head of the Snohomish Health District.
Officials checked 52 retail stores and found 84 percent were in compliance, about the same as the year before, said Suzanne Pate, a spokeswoman for the health district. Seven stores were found allegedly selling tobacco to minors.
Local health officials have for the past 15 years worked with agents from the Washington State Liquor Control Board, Pate said. Teen volunteers, both girls and boys, participate with their parents’ consent. 
Retail clerks who sell tobacco to minors can be individually fined $50 for a first offense. In addition, the business owner is fined $100 for a first sale to a minor, $300 for a second offense and $1,000 for a third offense plus a six-month suspension of the store’s tobacco license.
A fourth illegal sale within two years could cost the retailer $1,500 and a one-year license suspension. Further violations can result in the permanent cancellation of the store’s tobacco license.