Vape Sale Ban Clears First Hurdle At Dublin City Council

DUBLIN, CA — The Dublin City Council voted unanimously last week to introduce an ordinance to ban the sale of electronic vaping devices and flavored tobacco products in the city, amid an explosion in the number of youth who report using nicotine locally and nationwide.

Vape critics claim that vape companies lack sufficient research to market products as being safer than smoking. Some also say that vapes and flavored vape juices were designed and market to appeal to youth, though JUUL, America's best-selling vape company, has denied this.

Livermore, Richmond and San Francisco County have already passed vape bans, but those bans allow the sale of unflavored, U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved vape devices. Dublin's proposal would ban sales of all vape devices, according to the proposal.

The City Manager's office proposed alternatives to an outright ban on vape products, but the council decided to shelve those for the time being and focus on the proposed ban.

Councilmember Shawn Kumagai said during the Jan. 14 meeting that he would eventually like the council to explore requiring retailers to card patrons at the door to ensure they are at least 21 years old, if the store's inventory is comprised of 75 percent tobacco products. Three of some 30 local retailers would be affected, he said.

"The message from the community is crystal clear, the message from science and experts is crystal clear," Kumagai said.

For Councilmember Jean Josey, the vote was personal. Josey works for the Dublin Unified School District and has a young adult daughter who got hooked on vapes. She is still addicted to nicotine, Josey said during the meeting.

At schools, taking vapes from students is like "whack-a-mole," she said.

Councilmember Arun Goel shared that his seventh grader asked what vaping is, because their friends vape.

Vape use among local students is so rampant that a Dublin High School student told the council that her school has a particular bathroom that students have designated as a spot for vaping. The student also shared that she had a friend who embarked on a project to clean up the campus and expected to find litter, but was surprised to find waste from vapes and vape products.

"The education wasn't enough," she said before the council.

Other testifiers spoke about the risks of vaping and proposed removing tobacco from pharmacies.

Dublin would begin enforcing the ban in July, if it passes.