Local Marin youth speak out how easy it is for youth to get e-cigarettes in local communities:  http://www.marinij.com/opinion/20180411/marin-voice-officials-need-to-address-the-new-vaping-craze

Change Lab Solutions provides resources for local communities to help prevent youth nicotine addiction due to easy access to youth appeal nicotine delivery devices, products and tobacco: http://changelabsolutions.org/landing-page/tobacco-sales

Check out Tobacco-Free California's "Still Blowing Smoke" Campaign on how youth get poisoned and addicted by the tobacco and electronic smoking devices industries: http://stillblowingsmoke.org/#health

E-Cigarettes cause painful and deadly fires: just one of many reasons why local governments have chosen to regulate them at the local level. For more reasons, check out the Flavor Trap from Tobacco-Free Kids:  https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/microsites/flavortrap/

Most tobacco users today got addicted when they were under the age of 21.

Many end up quitting in a coffin after a very painful disease such as cancer, heart attacks, strokes, emphysema.

Communities, including city councils and law enforcement, work together to keep youth from becoming addicts to any drug including nicotine.

 Although it is against the law to sell tobacco to under age youth (under 21), some merchants continue to sell to youth. They consider the penalties to be a business expense. Experiences in other communities have shown that a tobacco retailer licensing (TRL) ordinance is the only way to stop stores from addicting neighborhoods of kids, because they could lose their license to sell tobacco after selling to under age youth three times.

• How TRLs work: Under a local tobacco retailer licensing law, the government requires all businesses that sell tobacco products to obtain a license from the government in exchange for the privilege of selling tobacco products.
• Low Cost to business: These licenses are not costly, typically $50 or less, per year per business (in Marin County...fees vary from county to county).
•  Enforcement: Following a friendly educational program, the Marin County Sheriff’s office, in collaboration with the local Police Department, conducts compliance checks.
• Tobacco-Free Pharmacy:  Novato’sTRL ordinance includes tobacco free pharmacies to avoid sending a mixed message to youth and smokers trying to quit: selling an addictive drug on one aisle and the medication to deal with its deadly effects on another aisle. Other Marin jurisdictions are considering enacting Tobacco-Free Pharmacy ordinances. 

Jurisdictions in Marin that have enacted Tobacco-Free Pharmacy ordinances include Novato and the County of Marin. 

Jurisdictions that have enacted Tobacco Retailer Licensing Ordinances include Novato, County of Marin, San Rafael (which needs to be updated) and Mill Valley.

See links for more information on Tobacco Retailer Licensing ordinances:

http://novato.org/about-novato/smoking-ordinance

 http://countertobacco.org/policy/licensing-and-zoning/

http://center4tobaccopolicy.org/tobacco-policy/tobacco-retail-environment/