Saratoga considering ban on all tobacco sales
Mint, cherry and bubblegum flavored tobacco products leave a bad taste in the mouths of public health advocates, and may lead to a ban on the sale of all tobacco in Saratoga.
City Council members directed staff members to prepare an ordinance for a ban after Councilman Howard Miller said — during a report about regulating flavored tobacco products — that Saratoga should just prohibit all tobacco sales.
“This is where it’s going to land anyway,” Miller said.
A sales ban would put Saratoga in front of the issue, he said.
“We can let the other cities catch up to us, for a change,” Miller said.
When council members at their June 20 meeting agreed that Mayor Mary Lynne Bernald should direct the staff to prepare wording on regulating flavored tobacco products, Miller asked about banning all tobacco sales.
“Let’s go for that,” Bernald said. “I’ve been pushing that as a priority since I was on the Planning Commission.”
A report to the council said many public health advocates argue that flavored tobacco products serve as a gateway to smoking for teens and adults. Flavoring the products can make them easier to inhale and less irritating, according to the report.
City Council members at their Feb. 16 retreat had asked that the staff report on flavored tobacco regulations. According to the San Jose-based, nonprofit Breathe California of the Bay Area, local national chain grocery retailers in Saratoga carry flavored tobacco.
Michelle Lam, public health coordinator for Breathe California, told the council that flavored tobacco is a way to draw in a new generation of smokers.
“Youth use flavors,” Lam said.
Miller said during the meeting that his daughter asked him why cigarettes are made if smoking is so bad for people’s health.
The councilman said that he was at the Los Gatos Town Council meeting in 1991 when officials took up a measure banning smoking in restaurants and workplaces.
“It was very controversial,” Miller recalled, generating TV news coverage of the Town Council meeting then.
Andrew Reddy, owner of Club Havana Premium Cigars in San Jose, said Wednesday that a domino effect is possible if Saratoga bans tobacco sales.
“Any kind of ban or constriction is a problem,” Reddy said.
Lauren Pettipiece, spokeswoman for the city of Saratoga, said the municipality will contact retailers for their comments this summer. Saratoga will then hold a community meeting in September and the matter is expect to go before the council in October.