REPORT TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS, AND MARKETING COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Report and Direction on Tobacco Policies Reducing Youth Access to Tobacco Products
Report
BACKGROUND
Tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of death and disease in California, causing nearly 40,000 deaths in California every year. In Santa Clara County, one in eight deaths annually is attributed to smoking-related illness or disease, such as cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases.
Data from the 2017-18 California Youth Tobacco Survey shows that almost one in three students in Santa Clara County have tried vaping. In Santa Clara county, 82.3% of teens currently using tobacco reported using a flavored product and 80% of youth who have ever used tobacco started with a flavored product. Data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that e-cigarette use in the U.S. more than doubled among high school students (from 11.7% to 27.5%) and tripled among middle school students (from 3.3% to 10.5%) from 2017 to 2019. The widespread use of e-cigarettes by youth has significant long-term public health consequences. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is highly addictive, can harm adolescent brain development, and can interfere with memory and attention processing. The CDC warns that young people who vape may be more likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes.
The Santa Clara County's Healthy Cities Program seeks to address these tobacco-related health concerns by promoting policies and practices to provide tobacco-free and smoke-free communities. Currently, the City has adopted 6 out of 12 recommended tobacco prevention strategies in the Healthy Cities Program (Attachment 1). Although the City prohibits smoking in multi-unit residences and many outdoor areas, it does not prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products or require a local tobacco retailer permit (Attachment 2).
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