2021_0208_CCPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Attachment A Regular City Council Meeting Monday, January 11, 2021 Page 7 268 Shoreview is relooking at this as well. He explained the petitions are from busi- 269 nesses in Roseville, but it is his understanding that some of the surrounding com- 270 munities do allow for the sale of flavored, including menthol in 21 plus stores. 271 272 Mayor Roe explained that it appears St. Paul and Minneapolis and even Shoreview 273 allow pretty much any flavored product to be sold at specifically a tobacco shop 274 where ninety percent of revenue is from tobacco products and the legal age to sell 275 to is 21. It appeared that Minneapolis and St. Paul, was written do to allow the sale 276 of menthol, mint, or wintergreen at liquor stores, which is also 21, but do not get 277 over ninety percent of their revenue from tobacco. 278 279 Mayor Roe asked if there is anything in State Statute limiting the cost of the license 280 to the $200 figure or some other figure. 281 282 Mr. Gaughan explained as with any business license the City requires, the cost of 283 the license must bear a rational relationship to the time and expense that staff put 284 into regulating that particular industry or business. 285 286 Public Comment 287 288 Mayor Roe offered an opportunity for public comment. 289 290 Mr. OÓRourke, Midwest Vapor Coalition 291 Mr. OÓRourke stated Midwest Vapor Coalition is a coalition of retailers and man- 292 ufacturers who make vapor products. He has a number of concerns about the or- 293 dinance as written and wanted to correct something that Mr. Trudgeon had said. 294 He stated that last fall, the FDA clarified that cartridge-based E-cigarettes or va- 295 por products cannot have flavors. That differentiates from open systems. In the 296 vapor market there are closed systems and open systems. A closed system, or car- 297 tridge-based system is something that is typically found in a product like Juul and 298 are often found in gas stations. The open systems are where a device is pur- 299 chased, and a bottle of liquid is purchased separately. He noted these are the ones 300 that typically have a wide range of flavors and are almost always sold at adult 301 only tobacco shops or vape specific shops. The problem the City has he withsees 302 with the Ordinance as proposed, is that the City will be getting rid of all of those 303 low nicotine flavored products. Unfortunately, these are also the products the ma- 304 jority of adults have used to quit smoking and also the number of products the UK 305 has promoted by their anti-smoking organizations as a path for adult smokers. 306 The City would be getting rid of all of those but leaving on the shelves, not only 307 traditional cigarettes but also Juul and high concentration pod devices that people 308 use, especially youth. Unfortunately, the rise in youth usage has been driven by 309 these high nicotine Juul devices. Those devices will still be for sale in all of the 310 convenience stores, which have not had flavors in over a year now. So, having 311 them limited to having flavors is not going to succeed and they will still be out 312 there for kids. What the City is taking away is the low nicotine devices, the ones