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ORDINANCE NO. 2020 - 11 <br />AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF VERO BEACH, <br />FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 73, TOBACCO <br />PRODUCTS, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF VERO <br />BEACH, RELATED TO THE USE OF ELECTRONIC <br />CIGARETTES; TO PROHIBIT THE SALE AND <br />DISTRIBUTION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO PERSONS <br />UNDER 21 YEARS OF AGE; PROVIDING FOR <br />PENALTIES; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT AND <br />SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; AND <br />PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. <br />WHEREAS, the City of Vero Beach recognizes that the use of tobacco products has <br />devastating health and economic consequences; and <br />WHEREAS, commercial tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of premature death <br />in America. It causes nearly half a million deaths annually and has been responsible for 20.8 <br />million premature deaths in the United States since the first Surgeon General's report on smoking <br />in 1964; and <br />WHEREAS, tobacco product use leads to more than $300 billion in health care and lost <br />worker productivity each year; and <br />WHEREAS, young brains are particularly susceptible to the addictive properties of <br />nicotine, which results in approximately three out of four teen smokers end up smoking into <br />adulthood; and <br />WHEREAS, an estimated 5.6 youths under the age of 17 are projected to die prematurely <br />from commercial tobacco -related illness if prevalence rates do not change; and <br />WHEREAS, in 2015, the institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) <br />concluded that raising the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products nationwide would reduce <br />tobacco initiation, particularly among adolescents aged 15 to 17, improve health across the <br />lifespan, and.save lives; and that raising the minimum legal sales for tobacco products nationwide <br />to 2I would, over time, lead to a 12 percent decrease in smoking prevalence; and <br />WHEREAS, 14 states and at least 475 cities and counties have enacted minimum legal <br />sales age 21 policies to further restrict access to commercial tobacco; and <br />WHEREAS, raising the age for tobacco sales in the City of Vero Beach, Florida, would <br />lessen the accessibility of tobacco to minors and further the City's interest in furthering the health, <br />safety, and general welfare of the residents of the City; and <br />WHEREAS, the use of unregulated high-tech nicotine dispensing devices, commonly <br />referred to as electronic cigarettes or e -cigarettes, is becoming more prevalent and wide -spread; <br />and <br />Page 1 of 8 <br />108 <br />