Palo Alto city officials are exploring whether to fine people who vape in public as they seek to quell what health officials believe is a youth vaping epidemic.
The City Council on Monday asked staff to begin researching a potential fine as a way to discourage teens from vaping. It would go beyond banning the sale of vaping products in brick-and-mortar stores — a policy that the council on Monday also moved to adopt. The city will enact the same vape sales ban that Santa Clara County had passed in November for unincorporated parts of the county. The ban is slated to take effect in the county and the city in 2020.
Palo Alto is the fourth California city to ban the sale of vaping products, following San Francisco, Livermore and Richmond. The Palo Alto ban will affect six stores in the city.
Because many teens do not buy vape products in brick-and-mortar stores, but rather obtain them from friends or buy them online, city officials want to pursue other ways to deter them from vaping, said Greg Tanaka, one of three council members who have been pushing for local policies to reduce youth vaping. Federal health data shows nearly 28% of U.S. high school students vape, up from 21% in 2018.
It has yet to be determined who would issue or collect the fines, how much the fine would be, and whether fines would be limited to underage vapers — the legal age to buy vaping products in California is 21 — or people of all ages, but Tanaka said the goal is to reduce vaping among minors. City staff will likely come back with a report on the issue by early next year, he said.
“Right now if you’re a minor in high school, you can vape and there’s no real consequences, there’s no law against that,” he said. “Maybe a school would reprimand you, but as long as you’re not buying it, there’s no problem. We’re looking at a fine or a way to discourage kids from using the product, at least in public.”
Some anti-vaping advocates dispute the merits of a fine.
“I don’t want it to be about punishment, especially with kids,” said Kristie Wang, a Livermore resident and leader of Flavors Addict Kids, a group of parents and health groups working to reduce youth vaping. “The focus should be on keeping it away from them, and rehabilitation and addiction treatment, but not punitive. I don’t see how that’s going to help anything.”
Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
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December 11, 2019 at 06:06AM
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Palo Alto officials explore fine for vaping in public - San Francisco Chronicle
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