LAFAYETTE — Lafayette is the latest to join a growing movement of cities banning flavored tobacco products.
The Lafayette City Council approved the ban Monday night, in response to reports of a growing number of local teenagers who smoke, despite it being illegal to sell tobacco products to minors.
The council vote was 5-0. After several meetings on the proposed ban, Monday night’s meeting was sparsely attended, with only five public speakers. The ordinance is scheduled to be adopted at the council’s May 28 meeting.
“This action signals an enormous step forward to protect our kids from a growing public health crisis, and emphasizes the absolute, pure imperative that your elected representatives place on the safety of our children,” Councilman and former Mayor Cameron Burks posted on Facebook after the meeting. “Many thanks to the exceptional city staff work to get this done; just a superb effort all around. Proudest moment I’ve had since joining the City Council. This is why public service is so important. I’ve never loved Lafayette more than I do right now!!!”
The new ordinance also calls for establishment of a tobacco retailer license fee. In addition, the council directed city staff to write letters encouraging neighboring cities to consider regulating flavored tobacco product sales and to support three bills in the Legislature aimed at reducing access of tobacco products to minors.
Jamie Rojas, of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, said the organization supported the licensing program and funding education programs on tobacco use among youths. But Rojas said the ban on flavored tobacco products would unfairly punish retailers and “not solve the problem.”
“It will not reduce tobacco usage among youth and adults,” Rojas said, noting that the city would lose local tax revenues. “It punishes retailers who follow the law in a highly regulated industry.”
Jen Grand-Lejano, of the Contra Costa County Public Health Department’s Tobacco Prevention Program, called Lafayette’s ban “the most important policy ever adopted to protect the youth of Lafayette. Our youth cannot wait.”
Grand-Lejano cited a California Healthy Kids Survey for 2017-18 that found that, for Acalanes High School, 50 percent of 11th-graders found access easy for cigarettes or e-cigarettes, 25 percent of 11th-graders had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days and 7 percent of the 11th-graders had used an e-cigarette 20 or more days in the past 30 days.
She said the statistics were not only the highest in Contra Costa County, but also the highest in the Bay Area.
“Our priority is public health, but that doesn’t mean we’re anti-business,” Grand-Lejano told the council Monday. “We just don’t support an industry that’s in the business of selling a product that, when intended, will kill you.”
Currently, there are 13 tobacco retailers in Lafayette, and all sell at least one type of flavored tobacco product, according to a city report.
Contra Costa County has banned flavored tobacco products, as have Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Hayward, San Leandro and San Francisco.