More than 40 percent of tobacco retailers sampled in Clallam County illegally sold to minors in 2015.

Clallam County public health officials reported the data from the Synar Report for the state Department of Health.

Noncompliance rates rose statewide, but with 11 or 40.7 percent of the 27 retailers sampled selling to people younger than 18, Clallam County was significantly worse than the state average of 17.1 percent, according to the annual Synar Report.

“It is unacceptable that we have 4 out of every 10 retailers illegally selling tobacco products to minors,” said Dr. Christopher Frank, Clallam County health officer.

“Nicotine is highly addictive and selling tobacco to youth is setting them up for a lifetime of poor health.”

A lower percentage of sampled Jefferson County retailers sold tobacco to minors in 2015, but the results are still above the state average and the highest within the past 10 years, according to the state Department of Health.

Almost 9 out of 10 people who smoke start by age 18 and tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in Washington and Clallam County, health officials report.

Nearly 28 percent of the 18 stores in Jefferson County that were sampled sold tobacco to minors last year, about 11 percent more than the state average.

Frank said these starts are part of a “concerning trend” where officials are seeing higher rates of use among young people and pregnant women.

“It definitely caught our attention,” he said.

Last year’s Synar report is the highest noncompliance rate Clallam County has had since the state began tracking in 1997, he said.

Clerks who sell tobacco to minors can be fined up to $100 and retail owners can be fined up to $1,500 and might have their license revoked for up to five years, according to the state Department of Health.

Officials with the Washington’s Liquor and Cannabis Board said an FDA Unit conducts Synar checks under contract with the Federal Drug Administration and its enforcement officers also make stops and compliance checks separate from Synar.

Frank said he would support the state sanctioning retailers who sell to minors.

He blamed some of the rise of use among minors on the amount of tobacco prevention funding available from the state.

In fiscal year 2016, the state spent $640,000 on tobacco prevention, the lowest level since 1998, according to The Associated Press.

As recently as 2009, Washington spent $28 million on prevention, but funding was slashed during budget cuts in 2010, the AP reported.

“It’s not easy because a lot of the money that has traditionally funded local tobacco prevention efforts went away,” Frank said.

“A big part of it is we have stopped enforcing the regulations regarding sales to minors without that tobacco prevention funding.”

When the county received the state funds, it was able to fund “sting operations,” in which minors attempted to buy tobacco products from retailers. If tobacco products were sold to the minor, the retailer would be fined, he said.

Retailer education was managed by local public health until 2009, when funding for tobacco prevention in Clallam County was cut. Clallam County Health and Human Services notified local tobacco retailers to help make them aware of these recent findings and encourage them to help prevent illegal sales to minors.

“On the local level, part of our effort is reaching out to retailers and asking them to be good community members, realizing that while it might seem like a sale to a minor is a small thing, we know most people who start smoking start when they are young,” Frank said. “They really are harming that young person in their store.”

In the Sequim School District, tobacco prevention information is taught from grades 5-9 in the Family Life and Sexual Health, FLASH, a program that covers growth and development, as well as personal safety.

The Clallam County Board of Health also is exploring cost-effective ways of addressing this problem, Frank said.

Clallam County has 69 tobacco retailers, according to the state health department.

Matthew Nash contributed to this report.