Tobacco.org

Raid at Watsonville cigarette shop lends momentum to tobacco licensing proposal  

In a high-profile police crackdown Monday, two tobacco shops in Watsonville were busted for selling cigarettes to minors, a raid that turned up more than just illegal cigarette vending. Illicit knife sales were also uncovered.

A week earlier, a little-known county commission was working behind the scenes on legislation that would have targeted just these types of crimes. The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, at its March 8 meeting, proposed an ordinance that would require tobacco retailers to get a license from the county, a program designed to generate money and means to monitor cigarette shops for criminal activity.

"This would have increased police presence and given police the opportunity to find out about (the cigarette and knife sales) possibly much earlier," said Natasha Kowalski, a county health educator and coordinator of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission.

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