C

New Hampshire Grade Card

Population Covered:
1,359,711
Tobacco 21 Since:
July 29, 2020
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The Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation evaluated all current statewide Tobacco 21 laws for their alignment with best practices that lead to effective prevention of youth initiation of tobacco and nicotine products.

Best Practice:

Health Department or Designated Agency

New Hampshire Enforcement:

The New Hampshire Liquor Commission is the designated agency

Best Practice:

Before distributing any tobacco product, the tobacco retailer or the tobacco retailer’s agent or employee shall verify that the purchaser is at least 21 years of age. Each tobacco retailer or tobacco retailer’s agent or employee shall examine the purchaser’s government-issued photographic identification if the purchaser appears to be under 30 years of age.

New Hampshire Enforcement:

ID check is required for any purchaser that appears to be under 21 years of age

Best Practice:

The primary burden for sales to underage purchasers should fall on the retailer who is profiting from the sales of the product and not the purchaser or non-management employee.

New Hampshire Enforcement:

Penalty is placed on the retailer and clerk

Best Practice:
Provide authority for the state, county, or municipality to inspect tobacco retailers for compliance with MLSA 21 and a mandated minimum number of annual compliance checks. Model recommends two per year for every tobacco retail establishment.
New Hampshire Enforcement:

The Liquor Commission does random, unannounced compliance checks, but number of checks is not specified or mandated in code

Best Practice:
The designated agency shall conduct compliance checks by engaging persons between the ages of 18 and 20 to enter the tobacco retail establishment to attempt to purchase tobacco products.
New Hampshire Enforcement:

Decoy age is not specified

Best Practice:
A comprehensive tobacco retail license allows states and municipalities to regulate all tobacco retailers, fund enforcement programs, and create a penalty structure that suspends or revokes a license for retailers that continue to violate a MLSA 21 law.
New Hampshire Licensing:

New Hampshire has a statewide comprehensive Tobacco Retail License

Best Practice:
The fee for a tobacco retail sales license shall be set and used to cover the administrative cost for licensing administration, education and training, retail inspections, and unannounced compliance checks. The tobacco retail sales license fee should not exceed the cost of the regulatory program authorized beyond the statute/ordinance.
New Hampshire Licensing:

New Hampshire’s Tobacco Retail License does not fund an enforcement program

Best Practice:
An effective licensing system requires tobacco retailers to pay an annual license fee and allows it to be periodically adjusted. Fee must be adequate to cover License administration, education/training, and enforcement. An annual fee of lower than $300 is generally inadequate to fund a licensing program.
New Hampshire Licensing:

New Hampshire’s Tobacco Retail License fee renews annually but at $6 is inadequate to fund an enforcement program

Best Practice:

Establish a civil penalty structure for violations rather than a criminal penalty structure.

New Hampshire Penalties:

New Hampshire will do both a civil and criminal penalty

Best Practice:

36 months

New Hampshire Penalties:

Length of violation accrual period not specified

Best Practice:

1st violation = $500
2nd violation = $750 and (7) day suspension
3rd violation = $1,000 and (30) day suspension
4th violation = $1000 and (3) year suspension

New Hampshire Penalties:

For the Seller (clerk): A violation for the first offense, misdemeanor for each subsequent offense. Fines could
reach up to $1,200.

For the Business (retailer): First offense is $250 with a minimum of $500 for a second offense. Continued violations could reach fines of up to $3,000 and suspension or revocation of the tobacco license.

Best Practice:
An evidence-based, best practices tobacco MLSA 21 policy should focus penalties on the tobacco retailer who profits from the illegal sale rather than the youth who is likely addicted to the product. PUP laws may be unlikely to reduce youth smoking significantly.
New Hampshire Penalties:

It is illegal for youth under 21 to purchase, use, or possess tobacco products in New Hampshire, but penalties are at the discretion of the judge.

Best Practice:

Local governments have a critical role in reducing the deadly toll of tobacco by regulating sales and restricting retailer access to youth for to these products to prevent use and addiction.
Tobacco 21 legislation should not introduce new tobacco control preemption, nor expand existing tobacco control preemption, and instead should be used as an opportunity to assert local authority or repeal existing tobacco control preemption.

New Hampshire Preemption:

New Hampshire does not have existing preemption

Best Practice:

A comprehensive definition will cover all current, known tobacco and nicotine products, which include not only cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco, but also products like pipes, rolling papers, electronic smoking devices, and other related devices. A strong definition will also be broad enough to capture future products.

New Hampshire Definitions:

New Hampshire’s Tobacco 21 law does not include a single comprehensive definition of tobacco, but does define products separately and regulates all products within their minimum legal sales age