(A) Statement of purpose.
(1) The purpose of this section is to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the property and persons in the city by prohibiting persons under 21 years of age from possessing vapor products.
(2) Persons under age of 18 are prohibited by law from purchasing or possessing cigarettes and other tobacco products, and retailers are prohibited from selling them to minors. There are new tobacco-less products, however, commonly referred to as “electronic cigarettes,” “e-cigarettes,” “e-cigars,” “e-cigarillos,” “e-pipes,” “e-hookahs,” or “electronic nicotine delivery systems,” which allow the user to simulate cigarette smoking. These products may be purchased by persons under the age of 21 and are being marketed with only federal age restrictions.
(3) The use of e-cigarettes and similar devices has increased significantly in recent years.
(4) Existing studies on electronic smoking devices' vapor emissions and cartridge contents have found a number of dangerous substances including chemicals known to cause cancer such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, lead, nickel and chromium as well as PM 2.5, acrolein, tin, toluene, and aluminum, which are associated with a range of negative health effects such as skin, eye, and respiratory irritation, neurological effects, damage to reproductive systems, and even premature death from heart attacks and stroke.
(5) Clinical studies about the safety and efficacy of these products have not been submitted to the FDA for the over 400 brands of electronic smoking devices that are on the market and for this reason, consumers have no way of knowing whether electronic smoking devices are safe, what types of potentially harmful chemicals the products contain, and what dose of nicotine the products deliver.
(6) Electronic smoking devices often mimic conventional tobacco products in shape, size, and color, with the user exhaling a smoke-like vapor similar in appearance to the exhaled smoke from cigarettes and other conventional tobacco products.
(7) The use of electronic smoking devices in smoke-free locations threatens to undermine compliance with smoking regulations and reverse the progress that has been made in establishing a social norm that smoking is not permitted in public places and places of employment.
(8) It is the intent of this Board, in enacting the ordinance codified in this section, to provide for the public health, safety and welfare by facilitating uniform and consistent enforcement of smoke-free
air laws; by reducing the potential for re-normalizing smoking in public places and places of employment; by reducing the potential for children to associate the use of electronic smoking devices with a normative or healthy lifestyle; and by prohibiting the sale or distribution of electronic smoking devices to minors.
(9) Therefore, the Village Board determines that prohibiting the sale, giving, or furnishing of e-cigarettes to persons under the age of 21 and prohibiting the purchase, possession, or use of e-cigarettes by persons under the age of 21 is in the village's best interest, is consistent with federal law and will promote public health, safety, and welfare.
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of construction and application of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) ELECTRONIC DELIVERY DEVICE shall include any component part of such a product whether or not sold separately. Electronic delivery device shall not include any product that has been approved or otherwise certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration for legal sales for use in tobacco cessation treatment or other medical purposes, and is being marketed and sold solely for that approved purpose.
(2) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER has the meaning given in Wis. Stats. § 30.50(4s).
(3) POSSESSION OF A VAPOR PRODUCT shall mean either actual physical control of the vapor product without necessarily owning that product, or the right to control the vapor product even though it is in a different room or place than where the person is physically located
(4) PUBLIC PLACE means a public street, sidewalk, or park or any area open to the general public in a publically owned or operated building or premises, or in a public place of business or a school.
(5) UNDERAGE PERSON means an individual who is less than 21 years of age.
(6) USE A VAPOR PRODUCT means to smoke, chew, suck, inhale, or otherwise consume a tobacco product or vapor product.
(7) VAPOR PRODUCT means any product containing or delivering lobelia, or any other substance intended for human consumption except nicotine that can be used by a person to simulate smoking in the delivery of the substance through inhalation of vapor from the product.
(C) Prohibited conduct. Except as provided in division (E) below, no underage person may do any of the following:
(1) Purchase or attempt to purchase any vapor product.
(2) Possess or attempt to possess a vapor product.
(3) Use a vapor product in a public place.
(4) Falsely represent his or her age for the purpose of receiving any vapor product.
(D) School property. No individual, regardless of age, who is enrolled in secondary school may possess or attempt to possess a cigarette, tobacco product or vapor product while on school property.
(E) Exceptions. A person under 21 years of age may purchase vapor products for the sole purpose of resale in the course of employment.
(F) Enforcement. A law enforcement officer shall seize any cigarette, vapor product or tobacco product involved in any violation of division (C) or (D) above committed in his or her presence.
(G) Penalty. An individual who violates this section shall, upon conviction, be subject to a forfeiture as provided in § 35.03 of this Code.
(Ord. 2020-04, passed 11-11-20)