Source: https://ecode360.com/9110481
Timestamp: 2019-11-20 04:19:46
Document Index: 371249257

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 135', '§ 135', '§ 135', '§ 135', '§ 135', '§ 135']

Township of Medford, NJ Tobacco Sales to Minors
§ 135-1 Rationale; purpose.
§ 135-2 Definitions.
§ 135-3 Sales to minors.
§ 135-4 Tobacco vending machines prohibited; removal.
§ 135-5 Prohibition on smoking in municipal buildings.
§ 135-6 Violations and penalties; enforcement.
Chapter 135 Tobacco Sales to Minors
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Medford 4-1-1998 by Ord. No. 1998-4. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Drug-free school zone maps — See Ch. 10.
Purchase of alcoholic beverages by minors — See Ch. 35, Art. II.
There exists conclusive evidence that tobacco smoke causes cancer, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, negative birth outcomes, as well as irritations to the eyes, nose and throat. Both smokers and those exposed to secondhand smoke are at risk. It is the opinion of the Township Council that nonsmokers should not be involuntarily exposed to tobacco smoke.
Statistics reflect that more than 90% of all smokers begin smoking before the age of eighteen (the legal age to purchase cigarettes in the state) and an estimated 3,000 minors begin smoking every day in the United States. There is, therefore, an important health need to reduce easy access to tobacco products by youths through strict enforcement of the state law prohibiting sales to minors.
All municipal offices, police station, fire stations, schools and school administration, water treatment plants, Department of Public Works, emergency squad building, library and any and all facilities owned and/or operated by the Township of Medford.
Any individual, partnership, cooperative, association or corporation, personal or representative, receiver, trustee, assignee or any other legal entity.
Any product made from the tobacco plant for the purpose of smoking, chewing, inhaling or any other use, including cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snuff and cigarettes in any form.
Any person or entity which operates a store, stand, booth, concession or place at which sales of tobacco are made to the purchaser for the consumption or use. It shall also mean a person or entity which owns, operates, or uses a vending machine and/or a vending machine location.
Any automatic, self-service device which, upon the insertion of money, tokens or any other form of payment, dispenses cigarettes or other tobacco products.
It shall be unlawful to sell or otherwise provide tobacco or tobacco products to a person under 18 years of age, which person shall be considered a minor for purposes of this chapter.
It shall be unlawful for any person to purchase tobacco products with funds furnished by a minor or with the intent to sell or give such a product to a minor.
Aside from self-service displays, tobacco products are to be stored for sale in such a manner that only a sales clerk has physical access to the same, and said sales clerk shall manually obtain the same upon customer request. Self-service displays shall be located in such a manner that a sales clerk shall be able to continually and easily observe and monitor customers obtaining tobacco products from the display. All such displays shall be no less than 10 feet from an entrance or exitway to a sales establishment.
Sign requirements. The following six-inch-by-eight-inch sign shall be posted in a conspicuous place near each cash register in all retail establishments in which tobacco products are sold:
THE SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO MINORS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. Legal Proof of Age must Be Shown. A person who sells or offers to sell a tobacco product to a person under eighteen years of age may be prosecuted in accordance with State and Local Ordinances.
Identification. It shall be unlawful for a tobacco retailer to sell or permit to be sold tobacco to any individual without requesting or examining identification from the purchaser, positively establishing the purchaser's age as 18 years of age or greater, unless the seller has some other conclusive basis for determining that the buyer is over the age of 18 years.
It shall be unlawful for any person under 18 years of age to smoke or use a tobacco product in any public place or to possess in open view a cigarette or tobacco product, an opened cigarette pack, opened carton or other opened container (as evidenced by a broken seal) holding a tobacco product.
[Added 4-1-1998 by Ord. No. 1998-5]
The Drug-Free School Zone Maps produced by Joseph F. Wiseman and adopted by Medford Township Council Ordinance No. 1988-28[1] is hereby amended to include tobacco-free school zone, whereby it shall be unlawful for anyone to sell, give or permit to be sold or given to a person under 18 years of age tobacco in any form within the areas on or within 1,000 feet of such school property. It shall also be unlawful for a person under 18 years of age to smoke or use a tobacco product or to possess in open view a cigarette or tobacco product, an opened cigarette pack, opened carton or other opened container (as evidenced by a broken seal) holding a tobacco product in and/or on school property as referenced in the Cigarette-Free/Drug-Free School Zone Map.
Editor's Note: See Ch. 10, Drug-Free School Zone Maps.
It shall be unlawful for a parent, legal guardian or other person acting in place of a parent or legal guardian or person who is responsible for the care and welfare of a minor under the age of 18 years to allow that minor to possess any cigarettes made of tobacco or of any other substance which can be smoked, any cigarette paper or tobacco in any form, including but not limited to smokeless tobacco.
It shall be unlawful to offer for sale or to sell tobacco through a tobacco vending machine in Medford Township.
All tobacco vending machines shall be made unlawful by the terms of this chapter and all tobacco vending machines shall be removed within 60 days from the effective date of this chapter.
Smoking and the use of other tobacco products shall not be permitted in any municipal building in Medford Township.
Unless otherwise provided by law, statute or ordinance, any adult person violating any of the provisions contained within this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, pay a penalty of not less than $100 or more than $500 for each offense.
Each sale or provision of tobacco to a minor shall constitute a separate violation.
Each day in which a vending machine is owned or operated, rented or permitted on a premises, subsequent to the effective date of this chapter, shall constitute a separate violation.
Unless otherwise provided by law, a minor charged under this section as a first offense with the use or purchase of a tobacco product shall be served with a written warning which shall inform the minor of subsequent penalties. A copy of said warning shall be sent to the minor's parents.
As to the repeat minor offenders who use or purchase tobacco products, and as to all other violations under this section, any person found to be in violation, upon conviction thereof, shall pay a penalty of not less than $50 nor more than $500 for each offense.
It shall primarily be the responsibility of the Police Department to monitor and/or enforce this chapter, which shall do so through periodic inspections or other legal means.