While tobacco sales to minors are on the rise statewide, in Kitsap County, sales to minors were actually down in 2015.
It’s the second year in a row illegal tobacco sales to minors decreased in Kitsap County, according to a press release. Statewide, illegal sales to minors are at their highest level since 1997, the release states.
In Kitsap County, the rate dropped to 13.3 percent of retailers selling to minors, while the state rate increased to 17.1 percent.
Nearly nine out of 10 people who smoke start by age 18, and 104,000 Washington youth alive today will die prematurely from a disease caused by smoking, the release states.
The Kitsap Scene is an online news magazine covering everything in Kitsap County.
