BRUNSWICK, Ohio — When you drive through the city of Brunswick, you can stop just about anywhere to buy cigarettes or vaping products. And if you wanted to sell them as a business, you were able to do that, too.
On Monday, City Council placed a moratorium on permit approvals for the sale of tobacco products. Ward 2 Councilman Nicholas Hanek says the measure comes as underage vaping is out of control.
"What keeps happening is stores pop up as one thing, but they're really a vape store," Hanek told 3News. "This is something we can start to curb, because the number of these stores is high, and we have to do more to look to regulate this ."
According to the CDC, flavored products, disposable devices, and a wide variety of brands threaten the health of our nation's youth. More than 2.5 million juveniles reported e-cigarette use in 2022, and the center says underage use of tobacco products in any form — including e-cigarettes — is unsafe
"Such products contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and can harm the developing adolescent brain," the study read. "Using nicotine during adolescence might also increase risk for future addiction to other drugs."
However, Council President Pro Tempore Joe Delsanter says you can't limit access to everyone.
"The actions of adults, that's their responsibility," Delsanter said, "and I would be cautious at how we look at the regulatory aspect."
In 2019, the state of Ohio raised the age for smoking and vaping to 21, but that hasn't stopped those under that age. Hanek says maybe more restrictions will.
"We attempted to regulate this through a moratorium on vape stores, but we found people that people worked around it," he explained. "So, now we've moved it to any tobacco, vaping product sales."
The moratorium is lasting for six months until officials here say they can figure out how much smoking and vaping teens are doing here in Brunswick.