Substantial scientific evidence exists that the use of tobacco products causes cancer, heart disease, and various other medical diseases. The Surgeon General of the U.S. has found that tobacco-caused diseases are the leading cause of premature, preventable death and disability in the U.S.
The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that at least four hundred thirty-four thousand (434,000) Americans die each year from tobacco-caused diseases. The Surgeon General of the U.S. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have found that a majority of those Americans who die of tobacco-caused diseases became addicted to nicotine in tobacco products as adolescents before the age of legal consent.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has concluded that the nicotine in tobacco products is a powerful addictive drug and identifies nicotine addiction as the most widespread example of drug dependence in the U.S.
Studies have shown that shoplifting tobacco products is a common behavior among smoking teens; in fact, one in ten (10) teenagers reported shoplifting as their primary means of obtaining cigarettes.
Tobacco is a "gateway" to other drug dependencies. Kids who smoke heavily (one pack per day) are three times more likely to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and twenty-two (22) times more likely to use cocaine.
Children are starting to smoke at younger and younger ages. The average teen smoker begins smoking at age fourteen and one-half (14½) years and becomes a daily smoker before age eighteen (18). Studies show that if people do not begin smoking as a teenager they will likely never start smoking.
Accordingly, the city council finds and declares that, in order to reduce youth access to tobacco products and tobacco paraphernalia, it is necessary to prohibit self-service merchandising of tobacco products and paraphernalia and permit only vendor-assisted merchandising of tobacco products and paraphernalia. (Ord. 97-070 § 1; prior code § 37.03.301)