After conducting its year-end alcohol compliance check last week, Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said his office is requesting that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office include vaping and other tobacco products that businesses shouldn’t be selling to minors in future stings.
The CCSO’s school resource officers, in conjunction with Partnership Carson City, held their final sting on Dec. 28 to ensure local businesses aren’t selling alcoholic beverage products to minors.
The compliance check was held with the support of three volunteers aged 16 to 18 who were sent to screen eight local businesses. Only one failed.
Furlong told the Nevada Appeal his request for expansion is to acquire greater resources to keep vaping and tobacco products from being easily accessible to teens in storefronts.
“I have instructed our team to proceed and coordinate with the AG’s office and determine if we can likewise add vaping and tobacco with the alcohol,” Furlong said. “(The businesses) would get a citation.”
Furlong said he hoped to hear soon from the Attorney General’s Office on the compliance checks, which are conducted every six to eight weeks.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne said tackling the sale of vaping products to minors was “one of the most fundamental challenges facing the industry.”
The UKVIA is making its “Preventing Underage Sales Guide” freely available via its website.
The 20-page guide has been developed in partnership with the association’s Primary Authority Partners, Buckinghamshire and Surrey and Trading Standards.
Dunne said: “The entire UKVIA membership is united behind the message that we must do all in our power to stop underage sales.
“This is one battle that we simply have to win, but we need the support of government, regulators and enforcement authorities in order to do so.
“Our underage sales guide will give retailers all the information they need so that they don’t inadvertently sell to someone under 18.
“Policymakers, politicians and consumers must have confidence that the vaping industry is a responsible sector, and this will be undermined if businesses do not implement and uphold robust age verification processes.
“The guide gives clear advice on how to implement a ‘Challenge 25’ policy and why it is important that anyone who appears to be younger than 25 should be asked to provide ID.”
Internet vape shop sales are facing fines as the U.S. state of Washington investigates online e-cigarette retailers. Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the results of a dragnet that caught five companies caught violating Washington’s age verification law, yesterday. Those fines amount to a total of $132,000 to the Attorney General’s Office, which will go toward continued enforcement of the law, according to a press release.
The five companies also entered into legally binding agreements with the agency to change their advertising and online sales practices to comply with Washington’s youth access law. The Attorney General’s Office says it “has or will” file lawsuits against two more companies for the same issues.
Credit: Free-Photos
For the investigation, the agency assembled a list of 148 online vapor product retailers. Investigators then posed as minors or used false identifying information and attempted to make purchases of nicotine-containing vapor products. “Washington’s law requires stringent age verification for online sales of vapor products. For example, vapor product sellers must verify the buyer’s age using a third-party service to crosscheck and confirm the buyer’s identity,” the release states. “Seven of the 148 targets illegally sold products to the investigators without verifying the ages of the purchasers, including one that completed the sale even when the investigator indicated they were 17 years old.”
The sting caught two additional companies that failed to cooperate with the investigation, according to the release.
In order to sell vapor products to Washington residents, retailers must do the following:
Clearly state Washington’s minimum legal age of purchase on their website;
Use a third-party verification service to confirm the purchaser’s name, age, and residential address;
The retailer then needs to verify the credit card information, and it has to match the information the purchaser provides;
Then they have to get a signed certification from the purchaser, saying they are who they say they are, and they are of legal age to purchase vapor products;
When the package ships, the shipping documents need to clearly state the package contains vapor products;
And the package needs to contain information about Washington law regarding the purchase of vapor products by minors.
Many sites used an “age gate,” requiring visitors to either confirm they were of “legal smoking age,” or enter their birth date to confirm their age, according to the release. Investigators tried to enter a birth date for a 17-year-old into the age gate on each site. All but one rejected that attempted purchase.
If the investigators got rejected by the age gate, they entered a fake birth date indicating they were of legal age, and used fake identifying information to make their purchase. If a company was following Washington State law, this information “was impossible to verify, and they were not allowed to make a purchase,” according to the release.
After conducting its year-end alcohol compliance check last week, Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said his office is requesting that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office include vaping and other tobacco products that businesses shouldn’t be selling to minors in future stings.
