About a dozen convenience stores and smoke shops across Rowan County have been reported by the sheriff’s office for selling vapes and other products to people under 21, the legal buying age in Kentucky. The investigations follow various reports of high school students easily buying vapes, inebriating gummy products, nicotine, and alcohol.
David Mirus is a detective with the Rowan County Sheriff's Office. He said in multiple rounds of spot-checks, nearly half of the vape and nicotine retailers in the county failed to properly ID underage customers, often multiple times.
“It’s disappointing to find out that actually the business owners, the managers, are allowing that to happen,” said Mirus. “It’s easy to post a sign, but really, they need to self-regulate better and to just honor what the law says above profit.”
Mirus said he and other officials with the sheriff’s office have also visited multiple businesses across the county to issue warnings about selling kratom, a recreational drug that can lead to addiction or other side effects. He added these verbal warnings have been productive, but the office has not had as much success mitigating underage sales.
At December’s fiscal court meeting, Mirus described the problem as ‘rampant,’ and said it’s the responsibility of these businesses to halt the problem at its source.
“They assume that you’re going to do the right thing. Well, obviously, we’ve got several folks that’s not. And hopefully, bringing this to light will cause a change just for them to do the right thing,” said Mirus.
Mirus encouraged parents or other adults to contact the Sheriff’s Office if they witness businesses in the county selling restricted products to minors. Underage purchases have remained steady in the last couple of years, but Mirus said the number of reports the office received has diminished, making it harder to investigate.
Citations and further investigations in these cases are set to be processed through state agencies like the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.