Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.94 prohibiting the sale of certain flavored tobacco products within the City of Long Beach, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Thank you. We're going to go ahead and go to the the last item, which is this which is the ordinance. And we do have significant public comment on this. And so let me. I think we have over 20. And so I want to make sure that we first go back and start with Councilwoman Price and then we'll go from there. And then I want to make sure I'll so I'm going to I'm going to we're also going to reduce public public comment, obviously, because of the length. But Councilman. Price. Sure. And the reason I wanted to speak first is because there are a number of changes that I'm going to be requesting that be made and maybe that will eliminate the need for some of the public comment. But if not, that's fine, too. So first of all, I want to thank the city attorney for coming back to us with this ordinance so quickly. And I want to thank our health department for the great research that they did and the very informative, too, from Ford Memo that they produced for council members that is available to the public. If anyone is interested, you can reach out to our office. We brought this item as an urgency item on the supplemental agenda because we wanted to get the conversation started. And I'm glad that we're here now having this conversation. And of course, we all know that there's a lot of uncertainty out there right now in terms of what the public health epidemic is, what's causing it, and where we're headed as a country in regards to some of the regulations. I want to focus tonight's item really on vaping products in particular, because that that appears to be the area where there is significant uncertainty about what's leading to injuries and death cited in our own health department report, where CDC conclusions and statements explaining that flavorings in particular have been shown to cause serious lung injuries when inhaled. Additionally, there are serious concerns that chemical flavor flavorings, when heated, can be causing respiratory damage when inhaled. The goal of proposing this measure for me was literally to mitigate the amount of youth consumption that we see and potentially to save lives and prevent any additional lung injuries to residents of this city. Youth addiction, as we know, is a huge, huge concern as nicotine addiction in youth has been growing in recent years after decades of falling addiction numbers. A temporary ban works to make it harder for youth to get highly addictive products that are targeted to them with sweet candy flavors. A temporary ban also helps us gather more information on this health concern and monitor what the federal government and others are doing to research the current public health epidemic that we are seeing. Finally, a temporary ban is meant to be an accommodation to our local businesses. To say that we are looking to put a pause on this until federal legislation is more defined and we have finalized data on what this health emergency really is about. Many cities, in fact, almost all cities that have enacted a ban have enacted a permanent ban. But here in Long Beach, I want to be thoughtful and not reactionary. And I want to make sure that we have a temporary ban in place, but that we can continue to work with our health department and our businesses to figure out how we shape a policy moving forward that allows our businesses to stay in existence in a manner that is safe and protects the public from addiction and the harmful effects of vaping products. With that, the following changes are the changes that I'm requesting be implemented as part of the ordinance, which will have to come back for first reading because of these substantive changes. First, the intent of this ordinance is to ban flavored vapor products. Second, I'd like us to remove the tobacco products from the ban, including cigars, little cigars, chewing tobacco, hookah, tobacco, pipe, tobacco and snuff. I'd like us to exclude cigar lounges and hookah bars from the ban. I'd like to include language in the recitals to express that to the extent that this ordinance applies to minors, diversion and education are preferred alternatives to the imposition of criminal penalties. I'd like to expressly prohibit employees of a tobacco retailer from selling, offering for sale, or distributing any tobacco products containing a flavor. I'd like to increase the minimum civil penalty in a civil action from $250 to $500. And I'd like to request that the city attorney make the proposed changes and return the revised ordinance to the City Council for further consideration and a first reading. Sorry. Okay. Before I go behind the rail, I want to do a public comment because we have a significant amount of public speakers. Like the first caller, Mr. Larry Good. Hugh James Nino. Travis Anthony. Here. H. Sanjeev Kumar. Those are the first five. And we're going to do one minute public comment without objection from the council hearing on one minute. All right. Nice to see everybody again. Thanks for having me. Talk and hopefully we can continue this education. And we've done a really good job so far. I know a lot of you met with us, more or less. Everybody on this side. And we try to meet with you guys. And I know Councilmember Durango, we have a meeting on Thursday. A lot of new information came out on Friday and they said 29 out of 29 cases for the lung that they actually tested the lungs was vitamin E acetate. Nothing to do with our industry. Everything we sell is registered with the FDA. So if anything happens like this before they can pull it, we need to get a policy. If you can do this either. Locally or state that there's a punishment to a child or a 14 year old that has a vape. Right now, there is no punishment at all. Zero. So either them or their parents, someone should have some kind of a punishment. And I appreciate Councilmember Price meeting with us and talking with us and we can continue working together. And that takes a lot. Council. Jasmine. Jade, I work for 7-Eleven. I'm the market manager for stores between SEAL Beach and El Segundo. I support my local franchisees and small business owners, including 27 elevens in the Long Beach area. 7-Eleven is a responsible retailer and as a former market manager in the Bay Area and also dealing with Santa Cruz, I've seen where some of these bands have failed, and I appreciate that you guys are looking at it in terms of the focus on Vape because as a father of a daughter who was in high school when she started to vape, I see where that's coming from. A 7-Eleven, a responsible retailer, just want to really quickly highlight some of the things that we do that maybe you should ask all retailers to do. We have employee training for all age restricted products we make available to our franchisees. We have a limited and restricted tobacco space. We have ID scanning on every single day product. You cannot buy vape without an ID in a 7-Eleven without the associate scanning it, and we actually participate in third party voluntary mystery shops. If everyone did this, maybe the product would be out of kid's hands. Thank you. Hello. My name is Anti-Venom. Me? I live here. I'm a 7-Eleven franchisee in the city of Long Beach. You know. Thank you, Councilman, for, you know, bringing up the whole issues. I just want to clarify one thing, which you probably when you said having, um. The changes you're making, are we changing the rules on cigarets to those menthol cigarets. Because that should be included in there, you know, be examined because they have been there for 100 years and. When you mention that, I think you overlook, you know, mentioning those that because we should be focusing on developing, we don't want the kids to be, you know. Doing that. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Next up, Stacy Brock. He meets Jaime Rojas, Shane Patel, Madeline Baron and Emily Baron. Hi. Good. Good evening. I have been in business here for almost 20 years. I'm proud to be in Long Beach. I have generated a lot of tax dollars for Long Beach and I've created a lot of cities, a lot of jobs for the citizens in Long Beach. Most of all, I built a rapport with my customers, the residents of Long Beach and many travelers that came through Long Beach each year. I have many customers that live in Long Beach for most of their lives and have been smoking flavored cigars and cigarets. They came to my shop out of convenience and they loved to shop the local stores and support our local businesses. I've always complied with the laws ensuring that the products are not sold to minors. I understand that Long Beach is also in 100 compliant year to date for not selling to minors also. Now you're asking your citizens to go to an unfamiliar city, give them their tax dollars, and then come back home to Long Beach and be able to smoke in front of my shop. I'm not sure how that benefits Long Beach. I'm asking you not to them asking you not to be on the sales of traditional flavored cigars and cigarets, such as menthol, wintergreen and chewing tobacco. Thank you. Good evening, council members. My name is Hamish Robertson. With the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. We represent tobacco retailers who are past the quarter century. As well here in the city of Long Beach. Councilman Price, I commend you for adding those changes. We also want to include. In there menthol men and Wintergreen Cigarets, which have been around for over a hundred years. I stated earlier. We also want to ask in. The process, this is the first major city that has not included a workshop with. Retailers to get their input in the process. So we want to include that as well. We're in full. Support of what the councilwoman has mentioned and adding them in making those changes. And we hope to keep focus. On what the issue is. It's THC, illegal, THC and illegal bootleg vaping. The FDA in the past. Three years here in the city of Long Beach have shown that code enforcement. 97% success rate of retailers in the city of Long Beach. The issue has, according to the state, the FDA and local is not the retailers but online sales and adult and parents who buy and purchase for their kids. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have Madeleine Baron? Chin Patel. Emily Baron. Brian Lee. Eva carbonara carbonara. Victor Sandoval. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. I would first like to commend everyone here that is involved with this proposal and personally thank you for showing interest in the subject and showing dedication in the use of language. I work with languages, youth leaders for tobacco control, a group of high schoolers who are invested and dedicated in tobacco education and restrictions surrounding the rise of vaping products among youth. Personally, this subject is very important to me, as it not only affects my life directly, but also the lives of my peers. I may not know all the statistics surrounding tobacco and vaping among youth, but I do know that I should not have to avoid my school's restrooms and fear of inhaling e-cigarette aerosols. I should not be able to purchase jewels or other flavored nicotine products as a minor, whether that be through schools or tobacco retailers. I should not have to watch my friends and peers grow dependent on toxic chemicals in my school because of the horrible withdrawal symptoms. Thank you. And please state your name. Good evening, city council members. My name is Brian Lee and I'm the advocacy manager at the American Lung Association of California. I'm also a resident of Long Beach District one. Our mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. And our organization supports strong local regulations that protect the public from harmful effects of tobacco and secondhand smoke as well. There are two different e-cigarette crises occurring right now. The first is the ongoing high prevalence of youth use of e-cigarettes. The second is the outbreak of pulmonary illnesses. I also want to mention what the recommendations and changes. We want to permanently restrict the sale of tobacco without any exemptions. This we urge that this does not exempt hookah cigar lounges or menthol products. And we want to also clarify that there should be that the penalties are restricted only to retail sellers, not minors. Thank you for your time. It's tough work. Salutations. My name is Victor Sandoval, live in District nine and I go to Jordan Davis star Jordan High School. And I would just like to explicate my position. I want to talk about how what happens. When students smoke from vaping products. What happens is it at the brain stops developing at 25? Thus when they take these supplements into their body, when into happening, is that their their focus, their learning and their recollection faculties are impeded thus to generating. Thirst, perpetuating it to generate behavior that will destroy them. I prefer this baby pass for them. Thank you. In the midst of the long. Mohammed Abdullah, Ahmed, Ishmael and Cantrell and Primo Castro. Very. All right. Moving on. Dr. Gina. Okay. Johnny. William. Aldinga and Amanda Staples. That those will be our final speakers. Good evening. As a doctor of public health, I rely on the. CDC. And they have said that vaping is hazardous. I want you to imagine that the CDC determined that a toy being sold in Long Beach is a choking hazard for babies. Do you side with the store owners who want to sell the toy or do you protect the babies? The answer's easy. We side with consumer safety over profits. We don't wait for babies to die. We don't claim that something else is causing the choking. This is the same situation with vaping products. The CDC has determined that they pose a risk of acute and potentially potentially chronic lung injury. Let's get them off the shelves. Just like that potentially hazardous toy. It's simple to see the motivation of this vape shop owners and seeking a carve out of this ban for flavored products. They want to protect their own right to sell a hazardous product while restricting the sale by others. Thank you so much. Evening, members of the City Council. My name is Primo Castro with the American Cancer. Society Cancer Action Network. Looking forward, Councilmember. Thank you very much for your amendments. Looking forward to, you know, to see and read the new revised. Edition of the ordinance. Thank you. Good evening. William Baldinger Coalition for Smoke Free Long Beach. I know there's been a lot of speakers I haven't been able to come. That's because we brought many high school students, those who are directly affected by them, by this ordinance, who need to be heard. So I applaud that. You have listened to the vape shop industry. Now I'd like you to talk to high school principals and pediatric pulmonologists and the people who see the effects of this epidemic on a daily basis. Those are the people who are affected by this this ordinance and who need to also be heard. Some arguments that we've heard in the past is that vaping is a way to end tobacco addiction. Vaping is tobacco addiction and that buyers will go elsewhere for their product. That's great. Let them go elsewhere. The incidence of. Of of vaping among high school students. Will go down as we push these products out of Long Beach, which is the only way we can protect our youth. Thank you, sir. Good evening, Amanda Staples with the American Heart Association. We are encouraged by this council's leadership, especially on this urgent and public health crisis regarding our youth tobacco epidemic. We're excited about some of the changes that the council has proposed, specifically around penalties that could be interpreted penalizing youth, specifically youth of color. I wanted to share that. We just hosted the Long Beach Stroke and Heart Walk just last month at El Dorado Regional Park. We had almost 4000 walkers. An overwhelmingly majority wanted to see a flavored tobacco ordinance here in Long Beach. A comprehensive ordinance that address all flavors and all tobacco products. And these are for Mercer. These are survivors. These are folks that prioritize health here in Long Beach, in their city. And so I just want to encourage you all that you do have a strong support here in Long Beach that wants to prioritize public health and address this youth tobacco epidemic. Thank you. It's a man staples here that wasn't made of Staples. Councilman Price. And I want to thank all the speakers that came out just just as a reminder. I brought this item as an urgency item to get the discussion going. And we have been listening to everyone. I've met with anyone who's reached out. I will continue to meet with everyone. The goal of this item was to act immediately to stop any additional incentive or access for. Youth. To vaping products. There are a number of issues associated with this topic and last time we had a discussion on this topic, it started to go in many different directions. I want to make sure that the purpose of this agenda item and why it was a supplemental item is clear. And that is as a result of the increase in incidents that we have seen related specifically to flavored vaping products and the mechanism of vaping. We brought this item to put forth as quickly as possible a temporary ban on the sale of those products in the city of Long Beach. As it's written, it will last for one year. Retailers will have 180 days to remove the items from the shelves. Just like many other cities have done, that seems to be the standard. They should not be buying additional product because they'll have 180 days to get rid of the product that they have. But this specific item is not about all tobacco products. It's about vaping products. We can have a discussion about all tobacco products. On another item, I'm happy to have that discussion and probably support it. This item, though, is an urgency item related to vape products specifically. There are a lot of uncertainties regarding the vape products and what which of the flavors or what aspect of the mixes is or the mechanism is causing the pulmonary injuries. There is actively research taking place and studies that are taking place that hopefully over the course of the next year will reveal to us whether it's the vaping mechanism as a whole, whether it's the additives to the flavors, whether it's the specific flavors, what it is that's causing the pulmonary injuries. And we'll have that period of time to be able to put forth a policy that will be inclusive of all of those factors. At this juncture, however, I think it's important for the city to act and to act. Quickly to put. Forth a ban that limits flavored vaping products. I do want to ask our health department director one question because it keeps coming up. Flavored cigarets. Cigaret flavors are have were banned I think in 2009. Is that. Correct? As flavored cigarets were banned. Menthol is still there and the original motion was to include menthol tobacco as it is a way that youth are engaging in tobacco and nicotine addiction. Okay. So and I know that that was an item that was an amendment that Councilman Austin made when we were last here. And it was in regards to menthol tobacco products. So I don't know if we want to include that in this and expand it beyond just the vaping products. But I think. What I'd like to do is limit this ban to vaping products at this time and give us some opportunity to evaluate. But I'm open to hearing the discussion of my colleagues and, you know, to the comments that were made in regards to, you know, listening to the vape shops. We're listening to everyone. And yes, we're going to take a measured approach as a city, but we're going to have an immediate ban once this council votes on it. And we'll have some time to study what the what the permanent ban is going to look like. And I think that's fair. And I think that's prudent. And I think it accomplishes the mission, which is to mitigate access of youth to these products. So thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I was happy to second this motion. Obviously, the health of our youth and discouraging them from picking up on that habits is really, I think, laudable. And I want to appreciate our councilmember, Susie Price, for for her leadership and her vigilance on this particular issue. I want to, I guess, ask the city attorney, how did we get flavored tobacco in the the original intent of what we put forth two weeks ago when we brought this matter forward, since it was sounds like the intent was specifically to vape items and we we somehow ended up with flavored tobacco. Can you can you help us recollect? Yes, Councilmember, when this item was brought last week, there were, as I recall, two friendlies, one by Councilmember Richardson, that added tobacco flavored products. And then your motion to make sure that that also included menthol tobacco cigarets so that they were both accepted as friendlies to the original motion of vape products. And with that, it greatly expanded to include all of those tobacco products. That maybe wasn't the intent of the council last week. I hear that. But also, with all due respect, they were accepted as friendlies two weeks ago. Are they not friendly now? What I want to do is limit it to vaping products. I specifically want to exclude hookah lounges and cigar lounges at this point. Well, while we're doing the temporary ban. I'm going to going to hold to two menthol cigarets. Again, I think it is a challenge. It's also you've heard from our health department director. Is is. I a Andre and you know, it entices you to get involved in smoking. And so I want to hold that. If somebody wants to amend emotion to to do something else, then the council is free to do that. No, I'm okay accepting that as a friendly. That currently as as I understand the amended motion direction menthol cigarets are included included not exclude. So we would need a motion to tell us or direct me to exclude it right now. No, no. We want to keep it as as. And so I encourage you support the counsel. The motion in a second as presented. Let me go to Councilwoman Mongo. So I just I missed a smidge of the conversation when I was trying to prepare and pumping in the back, but just. Is there any? So in my understanding there are other kinds of non flavored vape that are currently sold with THC that are not flavored, that are not covered in this ban. THC and cannabis are not included in this current direction to prepare this ordinance. That is correct. If our health director could tell me in the press releases that I read, those were specifically noted as potentially causing. The pulmonary issues, the lung issues. The data around the vaping disease indicates that much of it comes from cannabis. There's also a percentage that come from nicotine. Yes. And so I guess is there. Do we not think that the THC ones are getting in the hands of youth or. Why are we limiting it or is that open to an addition? Certainly open to discussion. That's not something I've done any my I myself have not done any outreach on it. My goal was to ban flavored vapes, which is the national trend that's going on to address youth use. But I will say that the CDC recently stated that although THC was connected with some of those deaths, they still do not know whether it's the mechanism, the heating source, the extracts, what it is that's causing it. So I'm not comfortable going down. Of broadening this particular statute. Proposed statute, as it's worded, until we've done additional research and gotten more data on that, that's just not an area that I mean, if someone here has some data that the definitive data that they want to share and make up amended motion, that's fine. But that's not part of my motion right now. So I don't hear support from the whole council on this. But I will say that in what I've read, what's been provided to me and when I lived in Europe. Back. More than ten years ago, vaping was around and flavored vaping was around and there weren't these injuries. And a lot of the things that I've read have not stated that flavored vape is the issue, but it's more the jewel and all these other things. And I don't know that we're targeting those devices as well as I would hope we would. Because when I go to a gas station to get gas and I see these products there. That scares me. I also had a. It's actually a Lakewood resident who was at a Long Beach location discussing with me that they because of the discussion we had here at the dais and how dangerous vaping is and how they're currently a smoker. They picked up an e-cigarette. And so I said, Well, there's a whole nother set of criteria and concerns related with e-cigarettes and. Especially an unregulated non FDA approved. All of these other things and so I have a serious concern about. The ban, as it says today, because of what I have read, it doesn't sound like the council has the desire to limit. All vape. Products except for those that are sold in vape specific stores, which and again the vape store in my district when they came into the district, I was nervous. I thought they were too close to a high school. I had all of these concerns, but they've never created an environment for our teens where they were welcome. They've never invited them into the store. We've not had any impact of that. So my research is different, but I'm hesitant to make an amendment at this time because it doesn't sound like the council was supportive of that last time. And so. I'll just again state my opinion and hope for a day when a bigger picture is available. Councilmember Pearce. Thank you. I want to applaud Councilmember Price for kind of focusing in on the areas that she originally intended. I support keeping menthol in there and not to make it more complicated, but as a 12 year old, I recall clove cigarets were the thing. Are those things legal still? Clove cigarets. Would you be opposed to including clove cigarets? I know it. Just as I remember all of us. 12 and 14 year old smoking cloves before we smoked cigarets. They were called betis days. So hip. I wasn't that hip. I'm not opposed to that. I just I defer to the city attorney whether. If the direction is to ban clove cigarets, we could add that language. I'm I'm not familiar with clove cigarets. So we're quite just talking to the health department about it. They are definitely a flavor. Very intense flavor. If Councilmember Price's okay with that. Sure. Thank you. And I don't mean to piecemeal this. I think that we I applaud doing this in an urgency way. I think I would still like to down the road hear a full presentation from the health department. The cannabis industry has not been included, I think, in these discussions, and I do know that I've seen some of the numbers around THC and vape products, but I don't feel the urgency to do that today. So I support the item as is and hope that we can have a full council presentation from the Health Department and possibly include cannabis industry in that conversation when that time is here. So. Thank you. Mr. City. Attorney, do you have anything else to add? No, the. Just to clarify, it's the motion made by councilmember price adding clove cigarets. And this will include the ban of menthol cigarets. That sounds good. And then if I could, just one more question. I know we touched upon it. The health department did do a really thorough tff on this. I wonder I don't know if they're prepared to do a report on it. Are you okay if the health department's if you could do a brief report? I think that would be fantastic, because I think it's much of the items that were listed in the health department report are actually incomplete contradiction to some of the statements that were made by some of my colleagues in regards to flavored products. So I want to make sure that we talk about that so that at any time, any council member who wants to bring an item back to add THC, we could start they could certainly do that. But I think it's important for the health department to report back on what you found regarding flavored vape products, not including THC , just flavored products. No, we didn't have a presentation yet. There is a motion in a second. And a request for a. Presentation. And the presentation request. Yeah, I'm ready. I can. We can speak to the to the items. So. So first. Of all, e-cigarettes and other vape devices provide nicotine levels. Ranging from zero mg to over 50 milligrams per milliliter in a cartridge or a pod standard CIGARETS average 8 to 10 milligrams of nicotine and the strength is reduced when burned. So many of the bait products offer much higher levels of nicotine than you would find in a regular cigaret. According to the Centers for Disease Control, e-cigarettes are considered highly. Efficient, efficient. Delivery systems for. Nicotine and for. Cannabis. Pod methods, which are utilized by Joule and other companies, utilize nicotine salts that offer a much higher level of. Nicotine. To be consumed. These high. Levels are leading to increased levels of. Dependency. More frequent use. And addiction among youth and adults. Ages 18 to 24. There's a lot of focus on youth under the age of 21, 18, up to. Age 30 really are the areas where you're seeing. Really increased youth and Nationwide's e-cigarette utilization has increased nearly 20 fold in less than ten years, and currently 29% of youth are utilizing e-cigarettes. Both the FDA and U.S. Surgeon General have declared youth e-cigarettes as an epidemic. Flavored tobacco products are driving the current. The current youth vaping epidemic. Over 70% of vapers are using the flavored e-cigarettes. Flavors match the. Taste of tobacco in both vape and all to end all flavored tobacco. Products and make it easier for new users. To initiate tobacco use. As of. 2017, there are more than 15,500 different e-cigarette flavors available online, including cotton candy, gummy bears. Juice boxes and many others. Flavors that appeal. To youth. And there actually federal law prohibits conventional cigarets. The 2016 Surgeon General's report on e-cigarettes concluded that flavors are among the most commonly cited reasons. That using e-cigarettes among youth and young adults, the draw is very concerning. As a levels of nicotine damage have damaging effects on the developing brain. Brain development continues until at least the age of 25 or older. Nicotine changes, brain cell activity and parts of the brain responsible for attention, learning memory and can interfere with emotion and impulse control. The younger a. Person is when they start using nicotine, the more likely they are to become addicted. And the more difficult it is for them to quit. Flavorings in e-cigarettes can pose your health risk for adults as well. E-cigarettes expose the lung to a variety. Of chemicals over 40. And at least. Ten of these around the California's Proposition 65 list of. Carcinogens and. Reproductive toxin toxins. While much is still unknown about the long term health effects of e-cigarette, aerosol studies show short term use of e-cigarettes increases. Respiratory resistance. Impairs, impairs, lend function. And daily use that. Have double the risk of heart attack. E-cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA. None of them are regulated by the FDA and they are not subject to any manufacturing standards. There's a lot of variability in the types of products and mislabeling. In 2018, studies found that 91% of e-liquids marketed as. Nicotine free contain various levels of nicotine. Overall, nicotine levels in e-cigarettes are highly variable and with many of them exceeding the levels of combustible cigarets. Many see vaping as a smoking cessation tool. However, what we're finding is. That they don't reduce nicotine consumption. And in fact, 80% of those who utilize e-cigarette. Devices as the cessation techniques continue to. Utilize e-cigarettes. For continued nicotine addiction. No e-cigarette product. Has been FDA approved for smoking cessation, though there are a number of others FDA approved on the market. Currently there are licensed. There are 13 licensed vape. Only shops in Long Beach and 490 outlets licensed to sell tobacco and other nicotine products. This includes duals and other things that we're talking about here that fit within this ban. The Environmental Health Division currently administers the retail the tobacco retail enforcement program. Which would which would fall under this work would fall under the program. The Health Department's tobacco education program is leading vape education across the city, partnering closely with the school district to provide information to principals, school nurses, parents and student groups and conducting community presentations. In addition, it. Facilitates a seven week long summer program for. Youth. 23 graduated. You heard from one or two. Of them tonight and they are developing messages to work in them in their communities. As of October 9th. There were 44 local flavor bans ordinances in California. In terms of the in terms of cannabis, the baby has essentially found that we've had three cases here. Nearly 80% of those. Cases were under the age of 35. The median age is 24. What they're really finding is a highly suspected link to the most pressing. Concerns include cannabis. Include the attractiveness of the use and method for young people. So basically the vaping of cannabis is highly attractive to young people. The same study found that 22 in 2016 found that participants top reason for vaping cannabis was convenience, and to screen it. For use in public places or for young people to screen is for use in homes. And in schools. So they've done a lot of different research. They don't know what it is that is causing. The Vitamin. E is one of those aspects, but it has. Not been clarified. Both for the vaping disease, but also the long term understanding. And research behind what we find. Being sold in any shop in vaping also has not been determined to understand the long term impacts. With that I open for for comment. Thank you very much for that report. If I can just make a clarification of an amendment. So Clove Cigarets were actually banned in 2009, but the new version of of that trend is the cigarillos or the little cigaret, little cigars or cigarillos sig a r i elo. So I'd like to include those in addition to the menthol cigarets as the bans. Received quite the education this evening myself. Okay. So, Harry, no further comment. Are we clear, Mr. City Attorney, on the ordinance and the amendments? Yes, we are. See no other comments from the Council. Let's take a vote.