Goal: Is to reduce the number of successful illegal purchases by minors to no more than 20 percent of attempted buys by minors in New Mexico.
Enforcement
Human Services Department (HSD)/Behavioral Health Services Division (BHSD)/Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (OSAP) contracts with the Department of Public Safety/Special Investigations Division (SID) to conduct unannounced enforcement visits. SID conducts these inspections to tobacco merchants throughout New Mexico using 15-17 years of age youth to determine whether merchants are complying with the law prohibiting the sale of tobacco to any persons under the age of 18. The youth that accompany SID Agents do carry money on their person in order to consummate the illegal purchase. Any individual that sells tobacco to a youth accompanied by a SID Agent during this inspection will be issued a citation and can be fined up to $1,000.