SAUGUS — North Shore Cape Ann Tobacco Policy Program Director Joyce Redford joined the Board of Health for its meeting on Monday night, as the Board held two Tobacco Suspension Hearings.
Redford explained that there were two situations in which minors were sold products during compliance checks that were conducted in town.
“We went to 7-Eleven on Lincoln Ave., and the youth asked for fronto leaves, which are tobacco leaves, which have been prohibited in the town of Saugus since 2016,” Redford said. “Not only was there a sale, but it was of a prohibited product.”
The franchise owner of the 7-Eleven came to speak at the meeting and said he had never received anything that the fronto leaves were prohibited in town, but he would remove them from the store’s shelves. He also noted that he never received letters about the first two violations.
“The issue that I’m facing here is I’m not in the store 24/7. As a 7-Eleven program, every employee undergoes certain training, and they have to pass that training,” the owner said.
He said that the people who fail the compliance checks go through a suspension the first time and are fired the second time.
The owner explained that there is a system in place at 7-Eleven where an ID must be scanned to complete a sale. Before the most recent incident, a clerk could override this system if they thought the buyer was clearly old enough. This meant an ID would not need to be scanned.
“After this incident, I made it so that any tobacco product being sold, we have to scan the back of the ID,” he said. This means that he had eliminated the override button so that no one could get away with not having an ID scanned to buy the product.
Board Chair Maria Tamagna was grateful for the work that the owner had done to try to halt sales to minors; however, she believed that the Board had to penalize the store.
“We’ve decided that we’re going to uphold what we’re supposed to, and these things have been long thought out for how we can have what we want as a tobacco-free environment for our young children. None of this is taken lightly,” she said.
Originally, it was going to be labeled the store’s third violation. But since the Lynn District Court threw out the first infraction, the Board decided to call this the store’s second infraction. A motion was made to move it to a second violation within a 36-month period, a fine of $2,000, and a suspension for seven days.
The next store was Gateway News at the Square One Mall. There, a minor was sent in and asked for an Airis vape product, which was sold to them. The youth did not have enough money to buy the product, but it was still given to them for a lower price.
Redford said the store also had frontos for sale, and it is the store’s first violation of selling to a minor.
The owner had cooperated with the Board, not only showing up to the Monday night meeting, but also speaking with them at the meeting in September. He had quickly paid the citations given to him.
The Board made a motion for a $1,000 fine and no suspension, which passed unanimously.
