SCOTTS VALLEY – The days of selling flavored tobacco products in the City of Scotts Valley are officially numbered.
The Scotts Valley City Council voted unanimously last week to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products within city limits. The ban includes tobacco products with “a taste or smell other than the taste or smell of tobacco,” including candy and fruit-flavored electronic smoking devices or e-cigs, according to a prepared release from the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency.
The ban will go into effect July 15 and as a result, Santa Cruz County will become the second county in the state to have equal protections against the sale of flavored tobacco products across all its jurisdictions.
“I’m grateful to the Council for their commitment to these issues,” Santa Cruz County Tobacco Education Coalition co-Chair Rachel Kippen is quoted in the health agency release. “Scotts Valley City leaders began this important work in 2020 but were interrupted by the COVID pandemic and the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. In spite of these challenges, Council members found time to prioritize the health of Scotts Valley residents.”
The ban comes about three years after a slough of similar regulations were passed in the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville in 2019. The American Medical Association reported that 80% of young people who have ever used tobacco started with a flavored product.
Superintendent of the Scotts Valley Unified School District, Tanya Krause, wrote to the council to express her alarm at seeing the growing popularity of vapes amongst city youth, some of whom use flavored tobacco. “We see these products every day in our classrooms, on our playgrounds, in gathering areas, and in our student restrooms,” she wrote in a letter to the council. “As an educator, I am particularly worried about the impact of nicotine on the developing brain.”
According to county health officials, products such as e-cigarettes, little cigars and smokeless tobacco use sweet flavors such as gummy bear, chocolate and cotton candy to appeal to youth. These flavors mask the harsh taste of tobacco and contribute to addiction.
Similar to past actions taken by other city councils within the county, this vote received some public opposition. In a letter to the council, representatives from the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance expressed concern over how the ban will impact small businesses who they say have been working to keep age-restricted products out of the hands of youth.
“The fuels and convenience industry is willing to do its part to prevent youth access to age-restricted products,” wrote an unspecified alliance representative. “Especially to find a manner to do it without the harm and negative impacts that ordinances such as this will bring onto small, family-and minority-owned businesses.”
The ban also prohibits smoking in outdoor dining areas in the city of Scotts Valley. In a recent California Adult Tobacco Survey cited in the county release, 84% of Californians, including 66% of smokers prefer dining in smoke-free restaurants with outdoor dining areas. In the same release, Kippen, from the tobacco education coalition, called this additional action “good for health and good for business.”
