County health drafts vape ban ordinance

STOCKTON — In an effort to restrict youth access to vaping products, San Joaquin County Public Health Services has posted a draft ordinance banning the sales of e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco.

The ordinance proposal can be found online at https://bit.ly/STOPP INFO.

County public health drafted the proposed ordinance at the request of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors during its Feb. 25 meeting.

Supervisors at the time asked county public health to review legislative options and work with the community to develop the ordinance, which would help stem the increase in e-cigarette use among youth and young adults, according to a media statement release Tuesday.

The ordinance, county public health said, would restrict the sale of flavored tobacco and e-cigarette products, including menthol and more than 15,000 flavors designed to attract new users.

The community is encouraged to provide feedback on the ordinance by submitting comments to

stopp@sjcphs.org by 5 p.m. on June 19.

Feedback will be considered by supervisors at a future meeting to approve the proposed ordinance.

“We want to make sure all of our community members, including businesses, have the chance to voice their thoughts about this ordinance,” Dr. Maggie Park, San Joaquin County Public Health Officer, said in Tuesday’s media statement.

“Our goal is to reduce youth access to tobacco products that are easily hooking our kids and have limited value to our community when their health impacts can have lifelong consequences,” she said.

In addition, county public health’s Smoking and Tobacco Outreach/Prevention Program will host a virtual community engagement session on June

10 at 4 p.m. To register, participants can visit https://bit.ly/SJCflavors.

Participants can also join the webinar in progress without registration at https://bit.ly/3gLGVhv.

Last year, San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar announced her office would investigate San Francisco-based JUUL, the largest manufacturer of ecigarettes and vaping products, accusing the company of intentionally marketing to minors.

If approved by supervisors later this year, the ordinance would only ban vaping products in unincorporated areas of the county.

For more information about STOPP, visit https://bit.ly/STOPPINFO, email stopp@sjcphs .org or call 209-468-2415.