San Jose Preparing To Ban Flavored Tobacco Products

By Tran Nguyen, San Jose Spotlight

September 27, 2021

Tobacco products that come in eye-catching packages with fruity, sweet and minty flavors could soon be pulled off the shelves in San Jose.

Under a proposal led by Councilmember Pam Foley, the City Council on Tuesday will consider prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-juices and menthol cigarettes. Mayor Sam Liccardo, Vice Mayor Chappie Jones and Councilmembers Magdalena Carrasco and David Cohen back the effort, in addition to the Tobacco Free Coalition of Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

The city estimates the ban will directly affect 18 businesses, and will require 44 other retailers to register with a program that regulates the sale of tobacco products in San Jose. Local businesses will have six months to stop selling flavored tobacco products.

If approved, the law will also ban new tobacco retailers within 1,000 feet of schools and within 500 feet of other tobacco shops.

“I was really frankly alarmed to learn how easy it was for these kids to gain access to not only flavored tobacco but these devices,” Foley said at a Monday news conference. “I stand here as someone with tremendous concern for the health of our children… make no mistake, this is about our kids’ health.”

The council decided to make the issue a priority in 2020, with plans to vote on the ban in June. But Foley said the vote was delayed until this week due to strong opposition from the tobacco industry.

According to a Santa Clara County survey, nearly one in local three teens have tried e-cigarettes—and one in eight currently use them. The survey also found eight out of 10 San Jose tobacco retailers sell flavored products, and almost a quarter sell them to underage youth.

San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP President Bob Nunez called the flavored tobacco ban the key to fighting nicotine addiction among Black and brown communities, who are disproportionately targeted by tobacco industry’s marketing. Tobacco retailers in the county are concentrated in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of low-income residents or people of color, according to Santa Clara County Public Health.

“Tobacco companies have been trying to continually sell this kind of death to Black and brown communities,” Nunez said, adding that he started smoking cigarettes at age 15 and smoked three packs a day before quitting for his children. “All that cotton candy and vanilla and menthol that’s marketed strictly to us, we want all of that gone.”

Many local businesses told the city in a recent virtual meeting that the ban of such products will hurt them financially. Out of 121 tobacco shops that responded to a city survey, 82% oppose banning the sale of flavored tobacco and menthol cigarettes.

Sean Kali-rai, a local lobbyist whose clients include e-cigarette company Juul, said the proposed ban could end the livelihoods of many small businesses.

“No children should be smoking cigarette and nicotine products,” he told San José Spotlight. “But this will impact small businesses, whose livelihoods depend on their shops… I do hope the city will rally its resources to help these businesses pivot to a new business model and to have concrete plans of how to help them.”

But most locals want flavored tobacco gone, with three in five San Jose voters strongly supporting the ban, a recent survey shows. Approximately 73% of all voters approve of such a ban.

Santa Clara County, as well as cities such as Gilroy, Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Cupertino have passed similar bans on flavored tobacco products.

“Big Tobacco cannot be trusted to do the right thing for our children,” Foley said. “It is past time for us to enact laws prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products in our city.”

The San Jose City Council meets Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m. You can watch the meeting here.

Contact Tran Nguyen at tran@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @nguyenntrann on twitter.

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