C

West Virginia Grade Card

Population Covered:
1,793,716
Tobacco 21 Since:
June 7, 2024
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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

West Virginia Enforcement:

West Virginia Bureau for Behavioral Health is the designated enforcement 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.

West Virginia Enforcement:

ID check is required for all purchases using government issued identification card.

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.

West Virginia Enforcement:

A criminal (misdemeanor) penalty is placed on the retailer and non-criminal, non-monetary penalty is placed on the clerk for unlawful sales.

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.
West Virginia Enforcement:

West Virginia does not mandate a specific number of compliance checks.

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.
West Virginia Enforcement:

Decoy age is not specified except to use person under age 21.

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.
West Virginia Licensing:

There is no statewide tobacco retail licensing requirement.

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.
West Virginia Licensing:

There is no statewide tobacco retail licensing 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.
West Virginia Licensing:

There is no statewide tobacco retail licensing program.

Best Practice:

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

West Virginia Penalties:

West Virginia has both a criminal and civil penalty structure.

Best Practice:

36 months

West Virginia Penalties:

West Virginia accrual period is 24 months.

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

West Virginia Penalties:

1st violation = $250
2nd violation = $500 (max of $750)
3rd violation = $750 (max of $1,000)
4th violation > = $2,000 (max of $5,000)

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.
West Virginia Penalties:

West Virginia has PUP penalties for possession of tobacco for youth under age 18 only.

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.

West Virginia Preemption:

West Virginia is not preempted for local tobacco sales regulations.

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.

West Virginia Definitions:

West Virginia’s Tobacco 21 law has a single comprehensive definition of Tobacco Products.