Cape council members at odds over proposed tobacco-sale ban

Cape Girardeau City Council members remain at odds over a proposal to prohibit anyone younger than 21 from buying tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes.

Council members last month instructed city staff to research a possible city ordinance to impose such a restriction to combat nicotine addiction.

But after hearing from city staff Monday, some council members said they weren’t in favor of imposing such a restriction. The council took no vote, but asked the staff to further explore the issue.

Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard said passing an ordnance that is “impossible to police, is not a good policy.”

Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation has pushed such legislation in cities, counties and states nationwide.

More than 500 cities and counties in 30 states have passed such laws, according to the foundation.

Representatives of the foundation’s Tobacco 21 effort last month asked the council to pass such a law and provided a sample ordinance to consider.

But city attorney Eric Cunningham, in a memo to the council, voiced concerns about such a measure.

“From the point of view of a prosecutor, it is not wise to make the sale of a commodity against the law while the purchase of that commodity is not against the law,” he wrote.

He added, “The enforcement provision will be very labor intensive and expensive for city staff.”

The sample ordinance’s “penalty amounts for violations of this proposal are in excess of what is permitted by Missouri law,” he wrote.

He said “requiring a seller of vaping products to pay an occupation license tax in order to sell those products would be a violation of the (state’s) Hancock Amendment, unless the tax was approved by Cape Girardeau voters.”

More than 2O Missouri cities now bar the sale of tobacco products to anyone younger than 21.

City manager Scott Meyer said such restrictions are imposed on a complaint basis.

Police chief Wes Blair said police would have to make undercover buys of tobacco products in order to ensure compliance.

Guard said he doesn’t see it as the city’s responsibility to regulate tobacco sales.

“I really feel like it is a state issue to me,” he said at the recent study session.

He said the proposed measure amounts to “Kind of protecting people from themselves.”

But Ward 1 Councilman Daniel Presson and Ward 3 Councilman Nate Thomas voiced support for the measure.

“You have got to look at the health of the community and the kids,” said Presson, citing growing concerns about vaping.

“Vaping is starting to seep into our schools,” he said.

Area school officials have expressed concern about the growing popularity of vaping among students.

Thomas said some Missouri cities have passed laws to address the problem.

“Twenty-three Missouri cities have figured out a way of doing this,” he said.

But other council members wondered how effective such regulations have been.

Meyer, the city manager, said staff will contact the Missouri cities with such laws to find out how effective they have been in reducing tobacco use by young people.

More than 2,000 cases of e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury have been reported from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and one U.S. territory, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thirty-nine deaths have been confirmed in 24 states and the District of Columbia, the agency states on its website.

In Missouri, state law allows anyone age 18 or older to buy tobacco products. Local communities, however, can impose stricter laws.

Mayor Bob Fox said passing the proposed measure won’t keep people younger than 21 from buying e-cigarettes or other tobacco products online.

He said it would be difficult for the city to enforce restrictions on the sale of tobacco products.

“I think it is a ‘feel-good’ ordinance,” he said.

Guard said people who are 18 years old are legally adults, and can vote and join the military.

“We are talking about imposing rules and regulations on adults,” he said. “I am more worried about guns and drugs.”

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