SAN DIEGO — Chula Vista City Council members are scheduled to vote on banning the sale of flavored tobacco products at a meeting Tuesday evening.
The products are already banned in the city of San Diego, unincorporated areas of San Diego County, Imperial Beach and Encinitas.
Proponents of the ban argue the products are harmful to kids and the only group that benefits from the sale of them are the tobacco companies.
"[Tobacco companies] spearheaded the creation of the flavored tobacco product with candy- like flavors and packaging because their goal was pretty transparent. They need to hook as many young people as they can to be future customers," said Adrian Kwiatkowski of San Diego vs. Big Tobacco, a campaign to end the sale of flavored tobacco locally.
Kwiatkowski said this idea that vaping or using e-cigarettes is less harmful than using traditional cigarettes just isn't true. He said there's as much nicotine in one pod as there is in a pack of regular cigarettes.
According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, in 2021 more than 2 million kids nationwide used e-cigarettes, and the vast majority, 85%, used flavored tobacco products.
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