San Francisco鈥檚 Board of Supervisors is slated to vote Tuesday to ban the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes in the city. The city is the corporate home of聽, the biggest producer of e-cigarettes in the country.
The ordinances would make the sale of e-cigarettes聽聽when shipping to San Francisco addresses.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has 10 days to sign the legislation, which she has said she will do. The law will be enforced seven months from that date, in early 2020.
San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, who co-authored the legislation, sees it as part of a long-term battle against the effects of smoking.
鈥淲e spent a few decades fighting big tobacco in the form of cigarettes,鈥 Walton said. 鈥淣ow we have to do it again in the form of e-cigarettes.鈥
Under federal law, the minimum age to buy tobacco products is 18.聽聽, however, have raised that age to 21 or passed measures that will set it to 21 by 2021. Despite this, use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, has skyrocketed among teenagers nationally.
Last year,聽聽reported vaping in the past month. That鈥檚 almost double the number from聽. Even eighth graders are vaping in record numbers.
These increases come after聽聽in teenagers smoking traditional cigarettes.
Public health officials are concerned about the rising number of teenagers using e-cigarettes, as nicotine聽. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that young people who vape may be聽.
Walton said he鈥檚 disgusted with the actions of Juul and similar companies, who he said are 鈥減utting profits before the health of young people, and people in general.鈥
Despite the tobacco age limit, Walton noted that vaping devices are commonly confiscated from students in the city鈥檚 middle and high schools.
The ordinance is accompanied by聽聽that prevents the manufacture, distribution and sale of e-cigarettes on San Francisco property. The ordinance takes direct aim at Juul Labs, which leases space from the city on San Francisco鈥檚 Pier 70. The ordinance is not retroactive, so it would not remove Juul from the company鈥檚 current space, but it would prevent other e-cigarette makers from renting city property in the future. In a statement, Juul spokesman Ted Kwong wrote that, regardless, the company does not 鈥渕anufacture, distribute or sell our product from this space.鈥
Juul鈥檚 vaping device was introduced in 2015. It鈥檚 small, sleek and discreet, looking similar to a flash drive. The company now controls 70% of the vaping market.
In a statement, Juul Labs said it shares the city鈥檚 goal of keeping e-cigarettes away from young people. The company said it has made聽聽and has shut down Juul accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
But, the company argues that 鈥渢he prohibition of vapor products for all adults in San Francisco will not effectively address underage use and will leave cigarettes on shelves as the only choice for adult smokers, even though they kill 40,000 Californians every year.鈥
Walton doesn鈥檛 buy that argument, however. He said that鈥檚 simply 鈥渢rading one nicotine addiction for another.鈥 What鈥檚 more, he鈥檚 concerned that for every adult that might benefit, dozens of young people could become addicted.
San Francisco resident Jay Friedman said the complete e-cigarette ban goes too far. The software engineer smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years, and smoking e-cigarettes has reduced his regular cigarette habit to two to three a day. He said he feels better physically.
Friedman supported a ban on flavored tobacco that聽. 鈥淚 feel like it was good to get rid of the fruit flavors for kids,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ut this feels like maybe a step too far.鈥
If e-cigarettes are banned, he said, he would try to quit nicotine altogether. But, 鈥渢here would be a point in a moment of weakness where I鈥檇 just end up buying a pack of smokes again and then it鈥檚 just a slippery slope from there.鈥
Small businesses in San Francisco are concerned the ban will hurt their bottom line.
Miriam Zouzounis and her family own Ted鈥檚 Market, a convenience store near downtown San Francisco. She said e-cigarettes are an 鈥渁nchor鈥 product: They draw people into the store.
鈥淲hen people come and want to purchase something at the store and we don鈥檛 have that exact item that they want, they鈥檙e not going to buy the rest of the items that they might on that trip: a drink or a sandwich,鈥 Zouzounis said.
She said sales from e-cigarettes account for at least $200 to $300 a day in sales. As a board member of the Arab American Grocers Association, she said she believes laws like this mostly affect businesses owned by immigrants.
Abbey Chaitin is a 15-year-old lifelong San Francisco resident. She isn鈥檛 drawn to using e-cigarettes, she said, because she has seen peers become addicted to them.
鈥淚鈥檒l see them in class fidgeting,鈥 Chaitin said. 鈥淭hey need it to focus, to function.鈥
And Chaitin predicted that, regardless of a ban, young people will still get their hands on e-cigarettes: 鈥淧eople my age can find a way around that if they really need to,鈥 she said.
Meanwhile, Juul is collecting signatures for a聽聽to override the ban.
This story is part of a partnership that includes , and Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the聽.
