Explanation
The devastating health & economic consequences of nicotine and tobacco product use has been well known and documented over the past several decades. Tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of premature death in America and causes half a million deaths annually. It has been responsible for 20.8 million premature deaths in the U.S. over the past 50 years since the first Surgeon General’s Report on smoking in 1964. Smoking and tobacco use leads to roughly $300 billion in health care and lost worker productivity costs each year. In 2015 the Institute of Medicine concluded that raising the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products nationwide will reduce tobacco initiation, particularly among adolescents aged 15-17, improve health across the lifespan, and save lives; and that raising the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products nationwide to 21 would, over time, lead to a 12% decrease in smoking prevalence. The Institute of Medicine also predicts that Tobacco 21 laws will reduce adverse maternal, fetal and infant outcomes - including preterm births, low birth weight, and sudden infant death - due to reduced tobacco exposure in mothers and infants.
Title
To repeal Section 2329.02 of the Columbus City Code; and to enact new Sections 2329.13 and 2329.14 of the Columbus City Code by adding provisions requiring retailers to obtain a license for selling tobacco products and product paraphernalia and prohibiting the sale of tobacco products and product paraphernalia to individuals under the age of 21.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus has the responsibility to educate individuals under the age of twenty-one on the effects of smoking, and require tobacco retailers to obtain a tobacco license in order to sell to individuals over the age of twenty-one; and
WHEREAS, current City ordinances permit the sale of tobacco products to individuals aged eighteen to twenty-one, leading to a higher probability of an individual becoming a lifetime smoker; and
WHE...
Click here for full text