A. Minimum Age To Sell Tobacco, Alternative Nicotine, Or Electronic Cigarette Products: No person under sixteen (16) years of age may sell any tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product at a retail establishment selling tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products. This subsection does not apply to a sales clerk in a family-owned business which can prove that the sales clerk is in fact a son or daughter of the owner;
B. Distribution Of Tobacco: It shall be unlawful for any licensee or any person, business, or retailer to sell, buy for, distribute samples of or furnish any tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or any alternative nicotine product to a person under twenty-one (21) years of age;
C. Purchase Of Tobacco: No person under twenty-one (21) years of age shall buy any tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or any alternative nicotine product; and
D. Before selling, offering for sale, giving, or furnishing a tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product to another person, the person selling, offering for sale, giving, or furnishing the tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product shall verify that the person is at least twenty-one (21) years of age by:
1. Examining from any person that appears to be under thirty (30) years of age a government-issued photographic identification that establishes the person to be twenty-one (21) years of age or older; or
2. For sales of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products made through the internet or other remote sales methods, performing an age verification through an independent, third-party age verification service that compares information available from public records to the personal information entered by the person during the ordering process that establishes the person is twenty-one (21) years of age or older.
E. A person shall not distribute without charge samples of any tobacco product to any other person, regardless of age, except for smokeless tobacco in an adult-only facility. This paragraph does not apply to the distribution of a tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product sample in any adult-only facility.
F. The sale or distribution by any person of a tobacco product as defined in Section 3-11-1
, including but not limited to a single or loose cigarette, that is not contained within a sealed container, pack, or package as provided by the manufacturer, which container, pack, or package bears the health warning required by federal law, is prohibited.
G. It is not a violation of this chapter for a person under twenty-one (21) years of age to purchase a tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product if the person under the age of twenty-one (21) purchases or is given the tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product in any of its forms from a retail seller of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products or an employee of the retail seller pursuant to a plan or action to investigate, patrol, or otherwise conduct a “sting operation” or enforcement action against a retail seller of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products or a person employed by the retail seller of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products or on any premises authorized to sell tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products to determine if tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products are being sold or given to persons under twenty-one (21) years of age if the “sting operation” or enforcement action is approved by, conducted by, or conducted on behalf of the Department of State Police, the county sheriff, the Village of Minooka police department, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Public Health, or a local health department. The results of any sting operation or enforcement action, including the name of the clerk, shall be provided to the retail seller within seven (7) business days.
H. No person under twenty-one (21) years of age in the furtherance or facilitation of obtaining any tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product shall display or use a false or forged identification card or transfer, alter, or deface an identification card.
I. It is hereby declared that possession or use of any tobacco product by a person under the age of twenty-one (21) is a nuisance, it shall be unlawful for any person under twenty-one (21) years of age to possess or use any tobacco product. (Ord. 2019-24, 11-26-2019; amd. Ord. 2023-18, 4-25-2023)