§ 138.23. Dispensing harmful intoxicants.

A.

No person shall knowingly dispense or distribute any harmful intoxicant except gasoline to any juvenile if the person who dispenses or distributes it knows or has reason to believe that the harmful intoxicant will be used in violation of § 138.07 of this chapter, unless a written order from the parent or guardian is provided to the dispenser or distributor. Six months after the board of pharmacy has designated the noxious additive, as defined in § 138.01 of this chapter, that is to be included in any product containing toluene, the gas, fumes, or vapor of which when inhaled can induce intoxication, excitement, giddiness, irrational behavior, depression, stupefaction, paralysis, unconsciousness, asphyxiation, or other harmful physiological effects, no person shall dispense or distribute a product that is required to include a noxious additive unless such product includes the noxious additive in the amounts and proportions prescribed by the board.

B.

Any product that is required by subsection A of this section to include a noxious additive shall have such contents clearly stated on the label.

C.

The prohibitions of this section shall not apply after a prescribed noxious additive has been added to the harmful intoxicant or upon determination by the board of pharmacy that addition of a noxious additive is not required.

D.

Whoever violates this section is guilty of trafficking in harmful intoxicants, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. If the offender previously has been convicted of a drug abuse offense, trafficking in harmful intoxicants is a misdemeanor of the third degree.

E.

This section does not apply to products used in making, fabricating, assembling, transporting, or constructing a product or structure by manual labor or machinery, for sale or lease to another person, or to the mining, refining, or processing of natural deposits.

F.

1.

Notwithstanding the fines otherwise required to be imposed pursuant to R.C. §§ 2929.21 or 2929.31 for violations of this section and notwithstanding R.C. § 2929.22, the court shall impose a mandatory fine of five hundred dollars if the violation of this section was a misdemeanor of the third degree, and a mandatory fine of two hundred fifty dollars if the violation of this section was a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

2.

The court may impose a fine in addition to a mandatory fine imposed pursuant to subsection (F)(1) of this section if the total of the additional and mandatory fines does not exceed the maximum fine that could be imposed pursuant to R.C. §§ 2929.21 or 2929.31.

3.

No court shall impose a mandatory fine pursuant to subsection (F)(1) of this section upon an offender who alleges, in an affidavit filed with the court prior to his sentencing, that he is indigent and is unable to pay any mandatory fine imposed pursuant to that subsection, if the court determines the offender is an indigent person and is unable to pay the fine.

G.

In addition to any other penalty imposed for a violation of this section, the court may suspend for up to five years the driver's or commercial driver's license of any person who is convicted of or has pleaded guilty to a violation of this section. If the offender is a professionally licensed person or a person who has been admitted to the Bar by order of the Supreme Court in compliance with its prescribed and published rules, in addition to any other penalty imposed for a violation of this section, the court forthwith shall comply with R.C. § 2925.38. Penalty, see § 130.99. (R.C. § 2925.32)