2017 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 18 - Criminal Code
Article 13 - Miscellaneous Offenses
§ 18-13-121. Furnishing cigarettes, tobacco products, or nicotine products to minors
(1) (a) A person shall not give, sell, distribute, dispense, or offer for sale a cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product to any person who is under eighteen years of age.
(b) Before giving, selling, distributing, dispensing, or offering to sell to an individual any cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product, a person shall request from the individual and examine a government-issued photographic identification that establishes that the individual is eighteen years of age or older; except that, in face-to-face transactions, this requirement is waived if the individual appears older than thirty years of age.
(c) A person who violates paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection (1) commits a class 2 petty offense and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of two hundred dollars.
(d) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) that the person furnishing the cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product was presented with and reasonably relied upon a document that identified the individual receiving the cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product as being eighteen years of age or older.
(2) (a) A person who is under eighteen years of age and who purchases or attempts to purchase any cigarettes, tobacco products, or nicotine products commits a class 2 petty offense and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars; except that, following a conviction or adjudication for a first offense under this subsection (2), the court in lieu of the fine may sentence the person to participate in a tobacco education program. The court may allow a person convicted under this subsection (2) to perform community service and be granted credit against the fine and court costs at the rate of five dollars for each hour of work performed for up to fifty percent of the fine and court costs.
(b) It is not an offense under paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) if the person under eighteen years of age was acting at the direction of an employee of a governmental agency authorized to enforce or ensure compliance with laws relating to the prohibition of the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, or nicotine products to minors.
(3) Nothing in this section prohibits a statutory or home-rule municipality from enacting an ordinance that prohibits a person under eighteen years of age from purchasing any cigarettes, tobacco products, or nicotine products or imposes requirements more stringent than provided in this section.
(3.5) Nothing in this section affects federal laws concerning cigarettes, tobacco products, or nicotine products, as they apply to military bases and Indian reservations within the state.
(4) (Deleted by amendment, L. 98, p. 1185, 2, effective July 1, 1998.)
(5) (a) As used in this section, "cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product" means:
(I) A product that contains nicotine or tobacco or is derived from tobacco and is intended to be ingested or inhaled by or applied to the skin of an individual; or
(II) Any device that can be used to deliver tobacco or nicotine to the person inhaling from the device, including an electronic cigarette, cigar, cigarillo, or pipe.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (5) to the contrary, "cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product" does not mean a product that the food and drug administration of the United States department of health and human services has approved as a tobacco use cessation product.
