Illegal tobacco sales increase in North County

The illegal sale of tobacco products to minors increased in certain areas of Santa Barbara County, prompting officials to suggest strengthening tobacco retail licensing laws and penalties.

While the overall number of violations actually decreased — from 34 in 2008 to 32 in 2009 — a spike in North County areas had some county officials concerned.

“The valley looks really bad, and it’s never looked bad before,” said Dawn Dunn, administrator of the county’s Tobacco Prevention Settlement Program.

Of four stores tested during undercover buys in Solvang, two stores sold to minors last year. In Buellton, five of 12 stores sold to minors. Both cities had much lower rates in 2008 — zero sales in Solvang and only two sales in Buellton.

Unincorporated areas in North County also had 11 illegal sales last year, compared to just one in unincorporated South County regions.

“It was a really huge shift,” Dunn said. “Most of the sales happened in the North County — not that we want to paint the North County as the bad guys, but the data doesn’t look very good.”

Illegal sales dropped in most cities along the South Coast, including a drop from seven violations in Santa Barbara in 2008 to just one last year. The only area with no violations was Guadalupe.

Four stores in Goleta, one store in Isla Vista and nine stores in the North County received letters of warning for their first violation in two years. Another store in Goleta and two others in the Santa Ynez Valley are facing 30-day suspensions for their second violation.

For the clerks that sold to minors, fees start at $150 for a first violation and increase to $500 and $1,000 fines for additional violations.

Dunn said she is concerned that storeowners don’t take letters of warning as seriously as in previous years, and noted that other communities throughout the state have seen success in lowering the rate of illegal tobacco sales to minors by strengthening their regulations.

“The real thing that seems to work is the threat of enforcement or actual enforcement,” she said.

Other municipalities jump straight to a 30-day suspension for a first violation, during which the store cannot sell nor advertise tobacco products to any customers. Fees for obtaining a tobacco retail license are also much higher — from $150 to $400 in other regions compared to the $30 fee charged in Santa Barbara County.

The county passed its current tobacco retail licensing law in 2001, and while Dunn said it was considered strong at the time, it has since become outdated.

“Nine years later, it’s not considered strong anymore,” she said. “It’s weak by today’s standards.”

She would like to see stricter penalties and enforcement coupled with a longer timeframe in which to examine past violations. Most licensing laws require officials to review a five-year span for previous illegal sales at a particular store, while local jurisdictions only review two years.

“The prevailing message is we think it should be hard for kids to buy tobacco,” Dunn said. “It is an age-restricted product, and if one in five or one in four kids can go in without lying or tricking or manipulating the situation and buy tobacco products, we can do better.”

County Supervisor Salud Carbajal indicated he plans to bring a proposal to the full board of supervisors soon that would set limits on tobacco sales near schools throughout the county, and said he would be open to setting stricter tobacco retail regulations.

Each year, the Tobacco Prevention Settlement Program holds decoy operations with minors throughout the county and typically visit about 75 percent of all tobacco retailers. Minors — typically 15 or 16 years old — enter each store with a valid driver’s license or identification and attempt to buy cigarettes.

If the effort is successful, undercover law enforcement officers issue a citation to the clerk, although some stores are not subject to enforcement efforts in areas governed by their own local retail licensing laws, including Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Lompoc and Guadalupe.