Santa Ana smoke shops may soon have to follow new rules and get new permits to sell cigarettes, vapes and other tobacco products amid concerns of some stores housing illegal gambling, selling black market marijuana, underage smoking and other illegal activity.
Officials in the heart of OC are the latest in the region tightening rules on tobacco retailers to crack down on illegal shops as local and state elected leaders also try to ban the recreational sale of Nitrous Oxide and the synthetic version of a drug called Kratom.
According to a staff report, there were nearly 1,000 calls to Santa Ana police related to underage smoking last year, resulting in targeted enforcement by officers who found illegal narcotics, gambling machines and illegal flavored tobacco…