The Village President and Board of Trustees 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 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 Village finds that establishing a minimum sales age of 21 for the legal purchase and sale of tobacco products will reduce smoking and tobacco use among youth and young adults, and decrease the likelihood that persons under the age of 21 will become smokers or electronic cigarette users later in life.
(B) The enactment of this chapter directly pertains to and is in furtherance of the health, welfare and safety of the residents of the Village, particularly those residents under 21 years of age.
(Ord. C0-05-35, passed 10-4-2005; Am. Ord. CO-2017-15, passed 5-2-2017)