If you're under 18 and use a fake ID to buy cigarettes, chaw, or even blunt wraps, you should stop -- if an Arizona lawmaker has her way, doing so could be punishable by up to 30 days in the slammer.
Republican state Senator Michele Reagan has proposed SB 1086, which would stiffen penalties for minors who use fake IDs to buy tobacco products -- blunt wraps included.
If Reagan has her way, using a fake ID to buy tobacco would be upgraded from a petty offense to a Class 3
misdemeanor. The penalties would also be increased from a maximum fine
of $300 to a maximum fine of $500 with a possible 30-day jail sentence.
The squares down at the Capitol even got specific enough to define what constitutes as a "blunt wrap."
"'Blunt
wrap' means an individual tobacco wrapper, also known as a wrap or
roll-your-own cigar wrap, that is made wholly or in part from tobacco,
including reconstituted tobacco, whether in the form of tobacco leaf,
sheet or tube, if the wrap is designed to be offered to or purchased by a
consumer," the bill explains.
Allow us to clarify: if it's a leaf you can fill with weed, chances are it's a blunt wrap.
The
problem with the current law, the bill's supporters argue, is that the
way it works now, the harshest penalties available to law enforcement
when a kid uses a fake ID to buy smokes fall on retailers who
often accidentally sell a kid with a convincing fake ID tobacco
products.
For retailers, the fine for selling a minor tobacco is up to $1,000.
The bill is currently under consideration by the Committee on Commerce and Energy. Read it in its entirety here.
