The Santa Ana City Council unanimously voted to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco products to protect young residents, reports Los Angeles Times.

“We are in the midst of a youth tobacco use epidemic in which tobacco companies are luring kids into a lifetime of nicotine addiction with the sale and targeted marketing of candy-flavoured tobacco products,” Councilwoman Nelida Mendoza was quoted as saying. “For too long, tobacco companies have preyed upon our youth, targeting our communities with misleading advertisements and candy flavours.”
According to the report, the council approved the first reading of the ordinance and will need to finalize the law at its next meeting. When the council first discussed the ban in late December, some council members supported the effort to reduce harmful health impacts to the city’s youth but wanted to ensure that the ordinance didn’t inadvertently discriminate against communities that use flavoured tobacco products as part of their cultural traditions, such as hookah.
The council had the opportunity to exclude hookah from the prohibition, but it chose a full ban.
The council chose to provide some support for local tobacco businesses by passing the ordinance on first reading rather than an urgency ordinance that would take effect immediately. Now, businesses will have about 45 days before the ordinance takes effect so that they can try to legally sell off their remaining flavoured tobacco products.
Santa Ana’s ban comes as local governments, the state and federal government consider how to deal with flavoured tobacco use by young adults. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last year efforts to ban menthol in cigarettes and flavoured cigars to reduce addiction, death and “youth experimentation.”
In 2020, California passed a law banning retail sales of flavoured tobacco. But earlier this year, the law was put on hold after a referendum backed by the tobacco industry qualified for the November 2022 ballot, when California voters will decide the fate of the law, the report said.