City Council Votes on Menthol Cigarette Ordinance



On Tuesday, January 18th, the San Leandro City Council will finally consider adopting a policy to end the sale of menthol cigarettes in the city.

The meeting starts at 6:30 PM and the menthol cigarette ordinance is agenda item #12A, which you can find at https://sanleandro.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=907619&GUID=F5D283C4-1357-48C5-BDEB-525A681DA612.

Here is the meeting agenda and the Zoom meeting link is https://zoom.us/j/506831637.

You can view the draft ordinance at https://sanleandro.legistar.com/ViewReport.ashx?M=R&N=Text&GID=191&ID=4649781&GUID=6068FFC3-E264-443A-B5F2-D21F73E6EF6A&Title=Legislation+Text.

There will be an opportunity for public comment, and speakers on this item will likely be given 1-2 minutes each to provide their comments. The Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition has developed a participation packet with background information on this issue, as well as participation details. You can find that at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B5V37lmkvR2AyGvzx1nfSky5O24oE5pq/edit.

After such a long delay, it's absolutely critical that we demand the city move forward with this initiative. Any further delays will increase the likelihood that this change never happens, just like back in 2017 when the city ended the sale of every other tobacco flavor except menthol. As I'm sure you all know, this is a racial justice, public health, and youth safety issue. We used to be a leader when it came to protecting our community from dangerous products like this, but it's not too late to finally catch up with our neighboring cities and the county, by voting to approve the draft ordinance, regardless of what happens on the state ballot this November.

Take note and take care.

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