FIGHTING BACK IN VALLEJO
VALLEJO YOUTH & TOBACCO
Vallejo City Council Acts to Protect Youth from Big Tobacco
On December 10, 2024, the Vallejo City Council voted to strengthen its existing tobacco policies. The new laws include many provisions that will protect youth, such as:
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Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco
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Ending the sale of all tobacco in pharmacies
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Setting a minimum price of $10 for packs of cigarettes, cigars, and cigarillos
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Setting a minimum pack size of 10 for cigars and cigarillos
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Not allowing discounts or coupons for tobacco
We are grateful to the young people, community partners, council members, and city staff who worked hard for this public health victory!
This is a significant achievement, but continued vigilance will be needed to ensure that restricted products will not be sold, and that underage youth will be unable to purchase nicotine products at local stores. Let us know if you want to help.
Vallejo Youth Have Been Targeted by Cheap Tobacco
Cheap Tobacco Products Are Sold In Vallejo Stores
Convenience stores and other tobacco retailers in Vallejo sell cheap cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (aka vapes) and cigarillos (some for less than $1). These highly addictive products are designed by the tobacco industry to be attractive, easier to use and more affordable for kids.
38.5% of public schools in Vallejo are within 1,000 feet of a tobacco retailer.
Photo: Donovan Seymour
Vallejo Students Know
Where to Go to Get Tobacco
37% of Vallejo Unified School District (VUSD) juniors say that it’s easy to get cigarettes, and over half (52%) say the same about e-cigarettes. In 2020, 40 of Vallejo’s 94 tobacco retailers were visited by an underage youth decoy and 12 of the stores sold to them (30%). Most underage youth in the U.S. get tobacco from local stores, not online.
© California Department of Public Health
LGBTQ+ Youth In Vallejo Use More Tobacco
LGBTQ+ youth feel more stress because of discrimination, which makes them more likely to use tobacco.
Queer VCUSD freshmen are more than twice as likely to feel hopeless or always be sad — and 8x more likely to smoke — as other freshmen.
20% of queer VCUSD freshmen use e-cigarettes vs. 6% of their straight peers.
Low-Income Areas of Vallejo Have More Tobacco Stores Targeting Minority Youth
Racial minority youth feel greater stress from social injustice, and Big Tobacco has been targeting them for decades.
This can be clearly seen in lower income and minority areas of Vallejo, which are more crowded with tobacco stores than other parts of the city. All over the country, areas with more black and brown youth have more tobacco stores closer to schools, greater tobacco discounts, and tobacco advertising easily visible to young kids. The more tobacco ads kids see, the more they use tobacco.
© California Department of Public Health
Many Vallejo Residents Want to Stop Cheap Tobacco
A 2022 LGBTQ Minus Tobacco survey of 105 Vallejo residents found widespread support for setting a minimum price for tobacco products:
84%
believe Vallejo should not allow tobacco discounts or coupons
71%
agree that Vallejo should set a minimum price for tobacco products
61%
agree that if Vallejo sets a minimum price policy, it should make tobacco products like cigars and cigarillos cost at least $10
The solution:
Tobacco Retail Licenses (TRLs) put teeth into tobacco laws by making sure retailers will lose their ability to sell tobacco if they sell to kids. TRLs can also stop the sale of e-cigarettes and flavors; raise prices to make them less affordable for teens; reduce the number of tobacco stores in minority areas and more.
Benicia, and 208 other Bay Area and California cities and counties have Tobacco Retail Licenses that have helped to protect youth from tobacco in their communities.