I saw a bunch of underaged kids smoking outside a starbucks in front of cops and they didn't do anything?

Question

My friend told me that it's illegal for kids to buy cigarettes but they can smoke then is this true? When the h**l did this happen O.o This is in california by the way

Answer 1

Goes by states, but yea alot of states it's only illegal to buy. But so what, jesus cops have better things to do.

Answer 2

i'm fifteen, live in san francisco, and i smoke all the time when cops are present. i'm pretty sure it's illegal for a minor to purchase cigarettes but it's not illegal to smoke them

Answer 3

dont know if it is illegal but ...

how are they going to prove they are underage?

and what good is it going to do to arrest a minor?

Answer 4

It depends on the state. Used to be true in all of them but now 37 have made it illegal for kids to smoke. I thought California was one of the states that had done that. But in practice, cops have better things to do than arrest half the teenage population, and they presumably know that such laws are useless as well -- if you start ticketing kids for smoking in public the kids will just do it out of sight. So it doesn't surprise me that they didn't bother. They also have to have reason to believe that the kid is underaged. They can't ask for ID like a store clerk, which means they can't arrest say a 17-year-old, because the kid might be 18.

Answer 5

yes my dads i cop i heard him telling my uncle that you can smoke them at any age (including underage) its just illegal to buy them if your underage. u can smoke them but not but them other people can buy them for you hint hint :D haha sorry bad influence but yeah its true. ( at least for ny im from ny idk about california but probally yes)