Marin County, CA Flavor Ban

Marin County, another municipality on the long list recently published by Not Blowing Smoke, has decided to move forward with the introduction of a flavor ban. The draft ordinance cites that;

“Tobacco companies have used flavorings such as mint and wintergreen in smokeless tobacco products as part of a “graduation strategy” to encourage new users to start with tobacco products with lower levels of nicotine and progress to products with higher levels of nicotine. It is therefore unsurprising that young people are much more likely to use menthol-, candy- and fruit-flavored tobacco products than adults, including not just cigarettes but also cigars, cigarillos, and hookah tobacco.”

This ordinance will be introduced in the regular County Board of Supervisors meeting on September 11th at 9:30am and we strongly encourage business stakeholders and vapers to attend this hearing and express their concerns about the unintended consequences of banning flavored vapor products and limiting consumer choice.

If the county decides to move ahead with this bad policy, a merit hearing and adoption likely will take place in the hearing that will be held on September 18th at 9:00am. The intention of the ordinance is to make it effective 30 days after adoption while enforcement would commence on January 1st, 2019.

3501 Civic Center Drive

Room 330

San Rafael, CA 94901

Vapers and vapor retailers in Marin County can contact Not Blowing Smoke for additional help and preparation.

Please contact the supervisors to express your concerns if you cannot make it to the hearing:

Damon Connolly (District 1)

dconnolly@marincounty.org

(415) 473-7354

Katie Rice (District 2)

krice@marincounty.org

(415) 473-7331

Kate Sears (District 3)

ksears@marincounty.org

(415) 473-7331

Dennis Rodoni (District 4)

drodoni@marincounty.org

(415) 473-7331

Judy Arnold (District 5)

JArnold@marincounty.org

(415) 473-7331