In an aggressive move to block youth access to addictive products, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Supervisor Shamann Walton have introduced legislation that bans the physical sale or delivery via shipping of any nicotine-containing vaping product.
A second bill bans any manufacturers of e-cig products from city property. If passed this would kick Juul out of its headquarters.
Supervisor Walton is pretty much dancing at the idea.
Two bills authored by City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Supervisor Shamann Walton — whose district includes Juul’s corporate headquarters in the Dogpatch neighborhood — are part of several actions the city wants to pursue to crack down on youth vaping in general, and Juul in particular.
Walton said the proposed legislation should also serve as a warning and statement to Juul that “we don’t want them in our city.”
Juul is currently headquartered on city-owned property in Pier 70.
“I don’t eventually want to see them leave this city,” he said. “I would have liked for them to have been gone yesterday.”
One bill that Walton plans to introduce at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting would ban the sale and shipment of e-cigarettes to San Francisco stores and customer addresses until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration begins a vetting process known as a pre-market review, in which manufacturers must prove their products are appropriate for public health before selling them on the market.
The city already bans kid-friendly flavors like candy and fruit in tobacco products through Proposition E, which voters passed in 2018. Physical stores are barred from selling them. Walton’s bill would ban all e-cigarettes regardless of flavor so long as they contain nicotine, and it would also ban the shipment of those things to private residences in San Francisco.
The second bill would ban companies that sell, manufacture and distribute tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from city property. San Francisco already bans tobacco companies from doing business on city property, and this measure would explicitly add e-cigarettes to the existing ban. The proposed bill would not be applied retroactively, so it would not kick Juul out of its current space at city-owned Pier 70, but it would prevent e-cigarette companies from leasing city property in the future.
At a Tuesday press conference, city officials blasted the e-cigarette company for what they called “predatory practices” toward young adults, with Juul’s sleek, palm-sized vaporizers that evoke tastes like mango, creme and cucumber.
“These companies may hide behind the veneer of harm reduction, but let’s be clear, their product is addiction,” Herrera said. “They’re in the business of getting people addicted, or keeping them addicted.”