The Mayor and City Council expressly find and declare that:
(A) (1) Cigarette smoking is dangerous to human health;
(2) There exists substantial scientific evidence that the use of tobacco products causes cancer, heart disease and various other medical disorders;
(3) The Surgeon General of the United States has declared that nicotine addiction from tobacco is similar to addiction to cocaine, and is the most widespread example of drug dependence in this country;
(4) The Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that the majority of the 320,000 Americans who die each year from cigarette smoking became addicted to nicotine as adolescents before the age of legal consent;
(5) The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that cigarette smoking precedes and may be predictive of adolescent illicit drug use; and,
(6) The present legislative scheme of prohibiting sales of tobacco products to persons under the age of 21 has proven ineffective in preventing such persons from using tobacco products.
(B) (1) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) definition of tobacco products includes electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), all cigars, hookah tobacco, pipe tobacco, and nicotine gels. The FDA regulations require that any product entering the market after February 15, 2007, will need regulatory approval before being made available to the public.
(2) Courts have ruled that e-cigarettes are tobacco products and are to be regulated as such.
(3) The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act allows the FDA to regulate some tobacco products but it does not explicitly include e-cigarettes or hookah, cigars and cigarillos and other novel tobacco products.
(4) Potential health risks and/or benefits associated with electronic smoking devices, including liquid nicotine, and other toxins are subject to further study.
(C) The enactment of this chapter pertains to and is in furtherance of health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the city, particularly those residents under 21 years of age.
(Ord. 97-052, passed 3-26-97; Am. Ord. 16-010, passed 7-20-16; Am. Ord. 19-018, passed 5-15-19)