Joint Release:
St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office
St. Mary’s County Health Department
LEONARDTOWN, MD (April 9, 2024)—The St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) has partnered with the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office (SMCSO) to prevent underage tobacco sales in the County. This partnership works with local businesses to ensure their staff consistently inspect IDs and refuse sales to underage customers.
The majority (47 out of 57) of compliance checks completed by SMCSO between December 2023 and March 2024 demonstrated proper ID-checking – an 83% pass rate. SMCHD and SMCSO thank our local licensees for preventing underage access to tobacco and nicotine products.
“Using tobacco and nicotine products is a major health risk for all age groups; and our young people, with their developing brains, tend to get addicted to substances faster and stronger,” said Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Mary’s County Health Officer. “We appreciate the work of our local businesses to prevent sales to those underage and thank the Sheriff’s Office for their partnership in creating a healthier and safer St. Mary’s County.”
“It gives me great pleasure to collaborate with the St. Mary’s County Health Department in this program. Often, our young people don’t fully understand the damage these products cause to their health. Involving our deputies in this proactive and preventive program to keep these harmful products out of the hands of our youth is a valuable investment of time and resources,” said Sheriff Steve Hall.
Learn more about youth use of tobacco and nicotine products at smchd.org/vapeaware.
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