ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago ("Chicago") is a home rule municipality as described in Section 6(a), Article VII of the 1970 Constitution of the State of Illinois, and as such may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs; and
WHEREAS, Chicago has an obligation to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of its residents; and
WHEREAS, Chicago has a substantial government interest in reducing youth and adult tobacco and nicotine use, and otherwise protecting and promoting public health; and
WHEREAS, Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The majority of tobacco use initiation occurs in youth and young adulthood;
and
WHEREAS, Nationally, e-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students since 2014; and
WHEREAS, Nationally in 2017, 11.7% of high schoolers and 3.3% of middle schoolers reported current use of e-cigarettes; and
WHEREAS, Nationally, one in five high school students and one in 18 middle school students use any tobacco product; and,
WHEREAS, Nationally e-cigarette use among youth increased from 1.5% in 2011 to 11.7% in 2017; and
WHEREAS, Tobacco use among Chicago youth is unacceptably high, particularly the use of other tobacco products. For example:
Although teen cigarette use is at an all-time low of 6%, more teens now use cigars and e-cigarettes than smoke cigarettes - 7.2% of Chicago youth used cigars and 6.6% used e-cigarettes in 2017, and
14.5% of high school students reported current use of any tobacco product; and
WHEREAS, Nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and adulthood; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Surgeon General in 2016 has issued a "Call to Action on e-cigarettes, specifically focusing on youth and young adults"; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has stated that "e-cigarette use among youth has hit epidemic proportions"; and
WHEREAS,...
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