Calistoga council asked to consider tobacco retail licensing program, with aim to curb youth smoking

Among 11th graders in Calistoga, nearly 1 of every 5 students told health surveyors two years ago that they had used vape products. Among ninth graders, more than a third said it was “very easy” to get those products and cigarettes.

And the profusion of flavored products is making tobacco even more enticing to younger kids, officials say, as sixth and seventh graders pick up smoking habits that can present short- and long-term hazards to their health.

Those are some of the findings behind a new effort to clamp down on youth access to tobacco products in Napa County’s northernmost city.

“The result of decades of tobacco control work led to a sharp decline in adult smoking rates in California,” Mariana Martinez, youth diversion coordinator with UpValley Family Centers, told the Calistoga City Council on Dec. 9. “However, the tobacco industry has evolved and created a new generation of products that appeal to young people.”

Members of a committee affiliated with the health-focused Blue Zones Project Upper Napa Valley — which locally includes employees of the Calistoga Police Department, Napa County Health and Human Services, Adventist Health and Upvalley Family Centers — called on the City Council Dec. 19 to consider forming a licensing program for tobacco retailers. The regulation would help ensure greater compliance with laws and support additional limits to curb youth access to tobacco products, supporters said.

Tobacco use remains the No. 1 cause of preventable death, disease and disability in the United States, Martinez said. She added that the leading cause of death in Napa County is cancer, with about a quarter of such deaths connected specifically to lung cancer.

The Blue Zones Project Upper Napa Valley is part of a national coalition of community-led efforts focused on health, and reducing tobacco use is one of their major focus areas. The presentation to the Calistoga council focused on the use of e-cigarettes and vaping products among Calistoga’s youth.

A Calistoga tobacco licensing program hasn’t yet officially been proposed, and no others currently exist in Napa County, according to the presenters. Details would need to be figured out.

But Kelly Bond, public policy advocate of the local Blue Zones effort, laid out how it would basically work to the council. Enforcement would be provided by Calistoga school resource officer Samantha Arlen, the city’s planning department would issue retail tobacco licenses with a fee, and community organizations and the county’s public health department would provide resources, education and other services, she said.

Such licensing programs have become widespread throughout California and the Bay Area — over 226 municipalities in the state are covered by them, according to Bond.

A licensing program was enacted in Sonoma County for the unincorporated area in 2016. In October, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors added to restrictions by banning the sale of e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco.

Santa Rosa — one of three Sonoma County cities without its own tobacco regulations — is considering a program that would cap the number of tobacco retailers in city limits and require them to obtain a license, pay an annual fee and comply with other restrictions.

Mitch Celaya, Calistoga’s police chief, told the council that much of the Calistoga program would consist of education and outreach, and making sure that retailers have appropriate signs warning youth about the dangers of tobacco products.

Nancy Wynne de Rivera, health education specialist for Napa County Health and Human Services, also noted that the enforcement aspect was important because some state tobacco laws aren’t actively enforced. For example, she said, California voters approved a law in 2022 that prohibits the sale of most flavored tobacco products, but without an enforcement mechanism.

Arlen said that flavored tobacco products were “the use of choice” for youth. When talking to several sixth graders who used vape products, she said, one of the students told her they tasted like mango, their favorite fruit.

“They’re geared toward kids,” Arlen said. “I mean, look at the vibrant colors. It’s not like your traditional cigarette that has that burn down your throat.”

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.