Vista

Cracks

Council explores harsher penalties for sales to minors

By Laura Place VISTA — Tobacco re-

tailers selling products to underage customers in Vista could see harsher penalties on the horizon, including increased fines and the likelihood of license suspension and revocation

At a Feb. 28 City Council meeting, several community members shared concerns about how easy it is for those under 21 to obtain vapes and other tobacco products in Vista due to retailers not checking IDs and urged the city to increase penalties.

With unanimous support from the council, city staff was directed to begin crafting an ordinance amending the city’s code to be approved in the future.

“I have a lot of friends who are minors, and it kind of breaks my heart to see them smoke tobacco and get vapes. I ask them, ‘Where do you get this? You are literally a child,’ and they’re like, ‘I know this place that doesn't card; I know this place that will just give it to me,’” said Yeseña Hernandez, 23. “I’m just concerned for my family, my friends, everyone younger than me.”

In the past three years, 10 different tobacco retailers in the city have earned violations for selling to minors, resulting in citations for clerks and required staff training, according to city spokesman Fred Tracey. In addition, one of these retailers earned a second violation and saw their license suspended for 30 days.

Currently, penalties for retailers increase for all repeated violations in three years to a 90-day suspension for a third offense, a one-year suspension for a fourth offense, and license revocation for a fifth offense. The clerk making the sale faces a $200 fine for the first violation, $500 for a second violation, and $1,000 for a third.

Officials are tipped off to these practices by conducting decoy operations, where minors are sent into tobacco or alcohol establishments to test whether retailers will sell them pro-