Buying flavored tobacco products has been illegal in California since the beginning of the year. But, more than 10 months later, San Diego’s city attorney says they’re still being sold. KPBS reporter John Carroll tells us that it has led to renewed calls for a crack down.
At a Tuesday afternoon news conference outside San Diego city hall, city attorney Mara Elliott did not mince words. “As a mother and a prosecutor, I am appalled by the tactics of the tobacco industry, which continues to manufacture and advertise deadly products with kid-friendly flavors," Elliott said.City leaders and people involved in the fight to stop flavored tobacco products from being sold are shown outside San Diego City Hall on October 17, 2023.
It’s against the law to sell flavored tobacco products to anyone, but the chief concern among city leaders is the peddling them to children, with flavors like bubble gum and cotton candy."As a council member and the chair of our public safety committee, it is my duty to implement the will of the voters, and to ensure we have the budget tools and the enforcement tools needed to crack down on retailers who break the law," Von Wilpert said.
“We’d much rather not make money when it comes to harming our kids than look at our bottom line or our profit," said Lacey.The problem is severe and widespread. Figures from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that 2.5 million middle and high school students currently use flavored-tobacco products. One in four San Diego high schoolers have used them.
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