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 WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
See details about the ordinance below
LOCAL NEWS
Northland's NewsCenter - Duluth City Councilors Amend Ordinances for E Cigarettes
Northland's NewsCenter - Duluth City Councilors Amend Ordinances for
E-Cigarettes
  
  
Contact Us!
  

 

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TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO!
  • Attend the City Council Meeting & Puiblic Hearing:  
7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 9th
City Hall - Third Floor - 411 West 1st Street
 
Pick up your bright green sticker to show your support!
  

 Please also let us know if you would be interested in testifying in support of the ordinance
during the public hearing
Jill.Doberstein@LungMN.org

 

  • Contact your city council member by phone or email:
    (be sure to include your name and address so they know 
     what district you live in or that you are a constituent)
     

** You can also email all of the City Councilors in one shot
by sending an email to: council@duluthmn.gov **

 

Patrick Boyle (East End, Congdon, Kenwood and UMD area)

pboyle@duluthmn.gov or (218) 728-4185

 

Jim Stauber (At-Large, representing the entire city)

jstauber@duluthmn.gov or (218) 724-1768

 

Dan Hartman (At-Large, representing the entire city)

dhartman@duluthmn.gov or (218) 310-5356

 

Emily Larson (At-Large, representing the entire city)

elarson@duluthmn.gov or (218) 730-5352

 

Linda Krug (At-Large, representing the entire city)

lkrug@duluthmn.gov or (218) 310-1628

 

Jennifer Julsrud (Lakeside, Hunters Park and Woodland area)

jjulsrud@duluthmn.gov or (218) 525-2409

 

Gary Krause (Lincoln Park, Piedmont Heights and Duluth Heights area)

gkrause@duluthmn.gov or (218) 727-2790

 

Sharla Gardner (Park Point, Central Hillside, Observation Hill area)

sgardner@duluthmn.gov or (218) 730-5353

 

Jay Fosle (Gary New Duluth, Morgan Park, West End area)

jfosle@duluthmn.gov or (218) 626-3584

WHY CLOSE THE "SAMPLING LOOPHOLE & REGULATE E-CIGARETTES?
  • When Freedom to Breathe was passed in 2007 which made all workplaces and public places, including restaurants and bars, smoke-free in MN there was an exemption for "sampling".  The spirit of the law was to all licensed retail tobacco shops (or smoke shops, not gas stations that sell tobacco) to allow customers to sample.  This small exemption was stretched into a loophole by Hookah Lounges opening (specifically targeting college communities and the young adult population) with a tobacco license and havign it's customers sit and "sample" for long periods of time.
    • "A hookah smoker may inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale consuming 100 or more cigarettes (5 packs)."
      - World Health Organization, 2005
    • The proposed City of Duluth Ordinance would close this loophole
              
  • Early scientific, peer-reviewed and published research tells us that there are toxins, including carcinogenic componds, found in e-cigarettes and secondhand vapor similar to what is found in traditional cigarettes.  The two largest companies that manufacture e-cigarettes have been purchased by the tobacco industry.  These products are not FDA regulated or approved.  The industry markets these products heavily to kids and as "safe to use anywhere smoking is not allowed" and "safe for pregnant women". 
    • The City of Duluth (and Minnesota) currently do not require distributers of e-cigarettes to have a license to sell them (you can sell them at a kiosk in the mall), nor do traditional youth access laws apply, such as you must have the products behind the counter, the sale must be clerk assisted (can currently be sold from a vending machine), etc.
    • The proposed City of Duluth ordinance would not only require a license to sell them and have all the traditional youth access rules apply, but it would also restrict the smoking of e-cigarettes anywhere there is a smoke-free or tobacco free ordinance (indoors, tobacco free lakewalk, smoke-free transit stops, in taxi cabs, within 100 feet of medical facilities, etc.).
       
  • 17 communities in Minnesota have closed the "sampling" loophole, including just recently Mankato.
  • 14 communities in Minnesota have now regulated the sale of e-cigarettes and many other areas are including e-cigarettes in their smoke-free policy (Target Field just last week, Essentia Health and Hennepin County).