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Colorado Springs City Council Backs Away From New Tobacco Rules For Now

If the city passed new laws, it would create a third layer of rules

After three hours of debate Monday, the Colorado Springs City Council backed away from requiring shops that sell tobacco products to get licensed locally and setting new penalties for underage tobacco possession — at least for now.

The council was weighing new tobacco rules, in part, because the high rate of vaping among teens. State survey data show in 2019, 26% of El Paso County teens vaped within 30 days of taking the survey and 46% had vaped at least once. Last year, the El Paso County Public Health declared teens’ use of e-cigarettes a public health crisis.

Vaping among teens is an epidemic and federal, state and local authorities need to work together to address it, Dr. Ted Maynard, president of the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the council. 

“This problem is bad and getting worse,” he said. 

If the city passed new tobacco laws, it would create a third layer of tobacco rules on top of new federal and state laws that have raised the legal age for purchasing tobacco products, such as cigarettes and vaping products, to 21 from 18. The new state law requires all shops that sell tobacco to obtain a license on or after July 1, 2021. Each shop in Colorado receive two compliance checks a year to ensure they are not selling to customers under age 21. 

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