San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on Jan. 14 to adopt new restrictions on the sale and distribution of flavored smoking products and electronic smoking devices, and also prohibited smoking in outdoor dining spaces in San Diego’s unincorporated areas.
According to County Communications Specialist Jose Alvarez, the restrictions were proposed as a response to recent nationwide vaping-related lung injuries and will be in effect for one year, or until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presents a report on vaping illness that indicates the risks have been properly assessed.
Supervisor Dianne Jacob explained in an email that the one-year ban was specifically chosen to buy time for health experts to assemble research on what might be causing vaping related illnesses.
“We’re taking two common sense steps to deal with this public health crisis: A ban on the sale and distribution of flavored tobacco products in the unincorporated area, along with a one-year moratorium on the sale and distribution of electronic cigarette devices. We included the one-year window because health experts are still trying to definitely nail down all the factors causing these illnesses. They need time to get to the bottom of this crisis and, with lives on the line, it’s critical we take action now. Waiting is not an option,” Jacob said.
However, some East county shop owners have expressed ambiguity over how the ban may affect business over the next year if the ban does go into effect on Feb. 28.
Alpine Smoke and Vape manager Ray Toma said that he is hoping the other products he carries make up for lost sales.
“We don’t know how it is going to affect us. It is a good thing we have such a variety of products and it will help us to have those things but to be honest, we just don’t know yet,” Toma said.
While business owners establish ways to turn a profit without the banned products, the county’s department of Health and Human Services is developing a Tobacco Retail Licensing Program to enforce compliance with ordinance changes.
That program will be brought for Board consideration later this spring.
According to the county, that program will ensure that shops are not selling to minors, and all retail entities are complying with other state and local laws.
Although the impending ban applies to unincorporated San Diego county, including Alpine, Descanso, Pine Valley, Lakeside Crest, Dehesa, parts of El Cajon and other areas, those restrictions do not extend to products for sale on tribal lands, such as Sycuan Market. The shop advertises on its website that it is the only available gas station for the neighboring communities of Dehesa, Crest, and Harbison Canyon. That market sells flavored electronic cigarette products, is open 24 hours a day and essentially creates an oasis of product availability amongst areas where the items will be banned, potentially reaching some of the young and impressionable customers the ban seeks to protect.
The new restrictions must still pass a second reading scheduled for Jan. 28. If approved, they will be in effect Feb. 28 and enforcement will begin July 1.
