City Council OKs some teens selling tobacco in Wichita; anti-smoking group approves
Starting soon, it will be legal for some Wichita teenagers to sell smokes, although they won’t be allowed to light up themselves until they’re 21.
On a 6-0 vote, with council member Jeff Blubaugh absent, the City Council Tuesday carved out an exemption in the city’s tobacco control ordinance to allow 18, 19 and 20-year-olds to sell tobacco and vaping products over the counter at local stores.
The vote partially reverses a change made last June when the city raised the age for purchase and possession of tobacco from 18 to 21, in keeping with federal law.
“Following these amendments, an unintended consequence has developed in that sales clerks have to be 21 to sell tobacco,” a city staff report said. “This has created staffing difficulties for retailers.”
Council member Bryan Frye, who pushed for the change, thanked the retailers for bringing it to the city’s attention.
“It was an unintended consequence and the strain that it put on them in this crazy environment over this last year with workforce was unnecessary, so I’m glad we can correct this action,” Frye said.
It also created problems for young workers by freezing 18- to 20-year-olds out of jobs where they’d have to be able to legally sell tobacco and vaping products, said Mayor Brandon Whipple.
The part of the ordinance banning sales by store clerks under 21 was “more of an oversight” than anything else, he said.
The 18- to 20-year-old workers can already sell alcohol, which they also can’t legally possess or consume, he said.
The restriction on tobacco sales “really puts lots of folks at a disadvantage (getting hired) at grocery stores and stuff,” he said.
Kim Neufeld of Tobacco Free Wichita said it’s not ideal to have persons as young as 18 selling tobacco, but the group is not opposing the change.
“We are always concerned about clerks that may sell to underage persons trying to purchase tobacco,” Neufeld said.
In the case of 18- to 20-year-olds, “They may have some peer pressure from friends around that age group,” she said.
However, “It’s more important to ensure we’re not standing in the way of anyone having a job,” she said.
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 10:26 AM.
