Title
Tobacco and Vaping
Discussion/Direction/Action: In 2018 and 2019, Pima County and the City of Tucson worked together toward adopting ordinances to raise the legal age for the purchase of tobacco and vaping products to 21 from the age of 18. The effort included requiring retail outlets to obtain permits from the local governments so they could enforce the tobacco and vaping restrictions. The City of Tucson in 2019 adopted such a program, but Pima County did not.
This proposes to direct the Pima County Administrator to revisit this issue by:
• Obtaining data from the City of Tucson regarding its tobacco and vaping products ordinance on how well it is working to achieve its goals - and to find if there are lessons learned after more than four years of implementation.
• Obtaining data from the Pima County Health Department, Pima County Courts and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office related to the sale and use of tobacco and vaping products by youths under the age of 21.
• Working with tobacco and vaping products retailers and health-related interest groups to obtain their information on issues of youth purchases and use of these products.
• Returning to the Board of Supervisors with a proposed ordinance addressing these issues that is in accord with the referenced City of Tucson program. (District 5)