Bethel’s Latest Round of Tobacco Compliance Checks Comes up Empty

Underage tobacco and electronic cigarette compliance checks have rounded up quite a few offenders in Connecticut recently, but one Greater Danbury town just showed the rest of us how it's done.

The Bethel Police Department just announced on their social media that there was an unannounced tobacco and electronic cigarette sales compliance check on Wednesday, March 19, 2025,17 businesses in town that sell tobacco products to the general public. Officers from the Bethel Police Department, and members of the State of Connecticut - Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Tobacco Prevention and Enforcement Program conducted the compliance checks after receiving numerous complaints of underage individuals buying tobacco and vape products at businesses in Bethel.

The surprising news is that out of the 17 businesses that were visited, all were in compliance. Not one product that could have been inhaled made it into the hands of officers. These same types of enforcements have turned up at least one or two offenders in recent years, not just in Bethel, but statewide. Just to refresh your memory, the legal age to buy tobacco or nicotine products is 21 in Connecticut, and retailers are required to ID anyone who appears to be under 30 years old.

I started smoking cigarettes when I was 16 years old, I know firsthand how underage tobacco use can damage your body years, even decades down the road of your life. I quit smoking cigarettes in 2001 at 32 years old, and according to my cardiologist my lungs and heart just recently stopped recovering to the damage that I did to myself. Nice job Bethel tobacco retailers