Members of the Boston Anti-Tobacco Advocacy & Policy Coalition, or BTAP, a collaborative effort of youth from SociedadLatina, the Hyde Square Task Force, and Whittier Street health Center. Back Row (L to R): Jasmin Irizarry, Dimery Reyes Middle: Luis Andy Rivera, Luis Rosario Front: Dionna Cobb
Major penalty for selling minors smokes
by Dave Wedge, Boston Herald, December 9th, 2004
Trying to combat a 10 percent hike in youth smoking this year, city officials passed a tough new ``three strikes and you're out'' rule to revoke the licenses of stores selling butts to minors.
``We now have one of the toughest tobacco laws in the country,'' City Councilor Michael Ross said. ``Places who sell to kids will get shut down. It's only a matter of time.''
Before the new law was passed last night, the city's Public Health Commission could only fine or issue suspensions against scofflaw butt vendors. Under the new law, store owners can lose their license for good if nabbed selling smokes to kids three times in a year. The law, which was driven by a student anti-smoking group, also doubles the annual cost of a tobacco license from $50 to $100. The fee is still substantially lower than other communities, some of which charge up to $500 for a tobacco license.
The new fees paid by the city's 1,014 tobacco retailers will raise an estimated $50,000 per year. The extra money will be used to fund sting operations and other tobacco enforcement programs.
According to health officials, Hub retailers this year sold to children 14.6 percent of the time, up from just 3.4 percent last year. The neighborhood with the highest rate of youth sales was Brighton, where vendors sold to underage smokers 21 percent of the time. The lowest rate was 13.8 percent in East Boston.