No person shall sell, give, deliver or otherwise transfer any tobacco-related
equipment or drug-related equipment to any minor under the age of 16 years,
provided that such person at the time of such sale, gift, delivery or transfer
knows or has reason to know that such tobacco-related equipment will or is
likely to be used in the consumption or preparation of any tobacco product
or that such drug-related equipment will or is likely to be used in the consumption
or preparation of any dependency-producing drug the possession of which is
a violation of Connecticut General Statutes Section 21a-279(a), (b) and (c).
If any such drug-related equipment has printed thereon or is accompanied by
instructions explaining the purpose and use of such equipment and if following
such instructions would cause a person to commit an act involving the use
or possession of a dependency-producing drug in violation of Connecticut General
Statutes Section 21a-279(a), (b) and (c), then the trier of fact may infer
that such person knew or had reason to know that such drug-related equipment
was to be used or was likely to be used in the consumption of a dependency-producing
drug.
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement
of this article:
DEPENDENCY-PRODUCING DRUG
Any controlled drug as defined in Connecticut General Statutes Section
21a-240(8) and any controlled substance as defined in Connecticut General
Statutes Section 21a-240(9).
DRUG-RELATED EQUIPMENT
Any instrument, apparatus or contrivance, including components, parts
and accessories thereof, intended or reasonably adapted to be used for one
or more of the following purposes:
A.
The consumption or the preparation of any dependency-producing drug.
Consumption shall include smoking and injection.
B.
The enhancement of the effect on the human body of any dependency-producing
drug.
C.
The concealment of any quantity of any dependency-producing drug.
D.
The testing of the strength, effectiveness, purity or weight of any
dependency-producing drug.
TOBACCO-RELATED EQUIPMENT
Any instrument, apparatus or contrivance, including components, parts
and accessories thereof, intended or reasonably adapted for use in the consumption
or preparation of any tobacco.
No person shall be guilty of violating §
144-1 if:
A. The person had reasonable cause to believe that the minor
involved was 16 years of age or over because such minor exhibited to such
person a driver's license, birth certificate or other official document
purporting to establish that such minor was 16 years of age or over.
B. The person was acting in his capacity as an employee
or official of any governmental agency or governmental institution or of any
public school or other public educational institution or health care facility
or institution; or the person was acting in his capacity as a registered pharmacist
or veterinarian, or under the direction of a registered pharmacist or veterinarian,
to sell said object for a legitimate medical purpose.
Any person who violates §
144-1 of this article shall be fined not less than $25 nor more than $99.
All provisions of the Town ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed, and if for any reason any word, clause, paragraph or section of
this article shall be held to make the same unconstitutional, this article
shall not thereby be invalidated, and the remainder of the article shall continue
in effect. Any provision herein which is in conflict with the Connecticut
General Statutes is hereby repealed, it being understood that said statutes
shall take precedence over this article.
For purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
CIGARETTE VENDING MACHINE
A machine or mechanical device used or intended to be used for the
purpose of automatically merchandising packaged cigarettes, the operation
of which is governed or controlled by the insertion of coins or tokens.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, fiduciary, partnership, corporation, trust
or association.
No person shall sell cigarettes or tobacco in any form to any person
under 18 years of age.
[Amended 1-8-1990; 9-10-2001]
A. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to prohibit the
dispensing of cigarettes, tobacco or smokeless tobacco from cigarette vending
machines within the Town of Simsbury.
B. Statement of findings. The Town of Simsbury finds:
(1) Sections 53-344 and 53-344a of the Connecticut General
Statutes make it unlawful for any person engaged in the manufacture or sale
of cigarettes to sell, barter, give or deliver cigarettes to any individual
under the age of 18 years; and
(2) Cigarettes are the most heavily advertised consumer product
in the United States and the tobacco industry spends more than $8.24 billion
on advertising and promotion of cigarettes; and
(3) Connecticut medical costs related to treating smoking
related diseases exceeds $1 billion every year; and
(4) Tobacco kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents,
murder, suicide, drugs and fire combined; and
(5) More than 3,000,000 young people under the age of 18
consume more than 947 million packs of cigarettes annually in the United States,
yielding gross sales to the tobacco industry each year of approximately $1
billion; and
(6) In Connecticut nearly one of every three high school
students and 13% of middle school children used tobacco within the last 30
days; and
(7) Every year, 12,000 Connecticut children became daily
smokers; and
(8) The average start-smoking age in Connecticut is 11 years
old; and
(9) Current laws and regulations have proved ineffective
and inadequate in preventing the illegal purchase of cigarettes by children
under the age of 18 years, particularly from cigarette vending machines; and
(10) Connecticut General Statutes § 12-289a(h) authorizes
a town or municipality to ban or significantly restrict the placement of vending
machines for cigarettes, tobacco or smokeless tobacco products.
C. Prohibitions. No person shall dispense, or cause to be
dispensed, cigarettes, tobacco or smokeless tobacco products from cigarette
vending machines at any location within the Town of Simsbury.
It shall be the duty of the Director of Health or his designee to enforce
the provisions of this article.
The penalty for violation of the provisions of this article shall be
a fine not to exceed $100.