Grandview Heights is expected to remove a provision that criminalizes possession of cigarettes and other tobacco products by anyone younger than 21 from a recently passed city ordinance.
City Council members said they would take up an objection to the provision from Mayor Ray DeGraw at their next meeting on Oct. 19.
DeGraw said that cracking down on 18- to 20-year-olds smoking or possessing cigarettes would be “problematic” because Grandview is surrounded by other cities with differing ordinances. That could lead to “confusion and unequal performance,” he said.
The state has set the legal age for smoking at 18.
Council President Anthony Panzera and a majority of the council members said they would act on the mayor’s ordinance and favored removing the provision.
“I’m very confident that will happen,” Panzera said after a council meeting tonight.
By law, the City Council must wait seven days before acting on the mayor’s objection. Because next Monday is Columbus Day, the council decided to wait until the following Monday. By then the mayor is expected to present the council with a revised ordinance.
Currently, the ordinance says an underage user is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor, the lowest of offenses. Punishment could include a smoking-education class and community service.
The revised ordinance would still ban the sale of tobacco-related products to anyone younger than 21 and provide penalties for merchants who sell the products.
Bexley and Upper Arlington have already passed bans on the sale of tobacco products to those younger than 21. Their ordinances did not provide penalties for underage uses.
Grandview was among one of the first cities in Ohio to ban indoor smoking.
Several members of the health profession and anti-smoking groups have applauded Grandview for adopting the ordinance, but supported removing the section that punishes underage users.
Micah Berman, assistant professor of public health and state co-director of Tobacco 21, told the council that the goal of the anti-smoking group is to “protect, not punish kids.”
Councilman Ed Hastie has opposed the ordinance from the beginning.
“This law will not accomplish anything,” Hastie said. “People will just walk across 3rd Avenue” to Columbus to buy cigarettes.”
He said that if the council wanted to make a health statement, it should have done that with a resolution, not an ordinance that penalizes violators.
Panzera and members of anti-smoking groups said Columbus and other cities are considering raising the legal age for smoking to 21. Eventually, he said, it will become state law.
“I don’t want to be the only city in central Ohio opposing this,” he said.
erinehart@dispatch.com
@esrinehart
City Council members said they would take up an objection to the provision from Mayor Ray DeGraw at their next meeting on Oct. 19.
DeGraw said that cracking down on 18- to 20-year-olds smoking or possessing cigarettes would be “problematic” because Grandview is surrounded by other cities with differing ordinances. That could lead to “confusion and unequal performance,” he said.
The state has set the legal age for smoking at 18.
Council President Anthony Panzera and a majority of the council members said they would act on the mayor’s ordinance and favored removing the provision.
“I’m very confident that will happen,” Panzera said after a council meeting tonight.
By law, the City Council must wait seven days before acting on the mayor’s objection. Because next Monday is Columbus Day, the council decided to wait until the following Monday. By then the mayor is expected to present the council with a revised ordinance.
Currently, the ordinance says an underage user is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor, the lowest of offenses. Punishment could include a smoking-education class and community service.
The revised ordinance would still ban the sale of tobacco-related products to anyone younger than 21 and provide penalties for merchants who sell the products.
Bexley and Upper Arlington have already passed bans on the sale of tobacco products to those younger than 21. Their ordinances did not provide penalties for underage uses.
Grandview was among one of the first cities in Ohio to ban indoor smoking.
Several members of the health profession and anti-smoking groups have applauded Grandview for adopting the ordinance, but supported removing the section that punishes underage users.
Micah Berman, assistant professor of public health and state co-director of Tobacco 21, told the council that the goal of the anti-smoking group is to “protect, not punish kids.”
Councilman Ed Hastie has opposed the ordinance from the beginning.
“This law will not accomplish anything,” Hastie said. “People will just walk across 3rd Avenue” to Columbus to buy cigarettes.”
He said that if the council wanted to make a health statement, it should have done that with a resolution, not an ordinance that penalizes violators.
Panzera and members of anti-smoking groups said Columbus and other cities are considering raising the legal age for smoking to 21. Eventually, he said, it will become state law.
“I don’t want to be the only city in central Ohio opposing this,” he said.
erinehart@dispatch.com
@esrinehart
Resource: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/10/05/Grandview-to-change-smoking-law.html
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