Gov’t steps up campaign against sale of alcohol, tobacco to minors

The CNMI government is intensifying its campaign against the sale of tobacco and alcoholic beverages to minors through the deployment of teams from the Department of Commerce to conduct random inspections of establishments in the islands.

Part of the random inspection is the education of establishment owners on the ills of selling the regulated items to minors, which include confiscation and permanent suspension of business permits.

Andrew Salas, director of the Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco Control Division of the commerce department, said teams are dispatched primarily not to catch violators but discourage the sale of alcohol and tobacco to persons under the age of 21 years and 18 years respectively.

ABTC fields teams to do random inspection of establishments at an average of 5-6 times a week usually at night to ensure alcoholic beverages are not sold to drunk customers and past the selling hours.

Businesses are allowed to sell alcoholic beverages only until 2:00 a.m. although the government urges them to have the last order call by 1:45 a.m.

Mr. Salas said inspectors are also dispatched at daytime to educate the public and business owners on alcohol and tobacco abuse, as well as to make sure only licensed establishments are selling the regulated items.

“Most of the inspections we do it to educate the public and the business community on the abuse of alcohol and tobacco. We don’t do it to try to catch businesses that are in violation of the law,” he said.

ABTC is also on the look out for business establishments that are operating without the necessary permit from the CNMI government. So far, the division has issued license to 484 tobacco and 873 alcohol sellers in the Northern Marianas.

Mr. Salas said there are still a number of establishments that are selling alcohol and tobacco without permission from the government and that most of them are still unaware of existing laws that require them to secure a license.

“What we do is go out and inform them that they need to get a license. Some people don’t know that there is a law requiring alcohol and tobacco licensing,” he explained.

Teams from the division confiscate the regulated items from unlicensed business establishments which are asked to secure a permit within 24 hours to allow them to recover the seized alcohol and tobacco products.

Mr. Salas said ABTC immediately releases the confiscated items as soon as business owners are able to get permit from the government.

He said the release of seized items work to the advantage of businesses because alcohol and tobacco are very expensive items adding that ABTC does not destroy products it confiscate except when required by the law and circumstances.

“We don’t destroy things, only when an establishment is a habitual violator. I believe that a first-time offender is actually not aware of the existence of a law with which they should comply,” he added.

In this case, Mr. Salas said ABTC issues a citation and gives the establishment enough time to secure a permit or rectify the identified problem. He emphasized that revocation of permit depends on the severity of the violation.

For regular violation, ABTC issues citation although it recommends permanent suspension of the permit of those who refuse or are not able to address the cited concerns on three occasions.