Alameda County Municipal Code Ch. 3.56 Prohibition on the Distribution of Tobacco Samples

The board of supervisors of Alameda County hereby finds and declares that:

A. Substantial scientific evidence supports the casual relationship between tobacco smoking and deadly diseases such as cancer, chronic bronchitis, heart disease and emphysema. The Surgeon General of the United States has determined that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in this country;

B. The chewing of tobacco is hazardous to one's health;

C. Minors currently have ready access to tobacco products as a result of noncompliance with existing laws that prohibit the furnishing of tobacco products to minors and the marketing practice of distributing free tobacco product samples;

D. Urban neighborhoods are prime marketing targets for cigarette and other tobacco product "giveaways" by tobacco companies. This promotional strategy is apparently designed to increase sales by encouraging smoking and the ongoing consumption of tobacco products;

E. The marketing practice of tobacco product giveaways is commonly pursued through the use of multimedia equipped vans and promotion teams which distribute tobacco product samples at shopping areas, public parks and other areas where contact with the general public is frequent;

F. The free distribution of cigarettes: encourages people to begin smoking and thereby leads to a form of addiction; discourages those who already smoke from quitting; and tempts former smokers to resume smoking;

G. Encouraging smoking and discouraging smokers from quitting smoking endangers the public health by leading more people to form or renew habits that cause illness and death;

H. Tobacco product giveaways promote unsightly litter, thereby increasing the costs to the public in cleaning the streets, and also causes pedestrian and vehicular traffic congestion;

I. Educators, health workers, parents, church leaders and business owners have complained about this marketing practice which targets low income urban neighborhoods;

J. Ad hoc protests have been only marginally effective in discouraging the giveaways, the sole consequence of which is that the distributors relocate to a different neighborhood;

K. Repeated efforts by county officials to seek discontinuance of this distribution practice have been rebuked by tobacco industry agents;

L. In order to minimize the use of tobacco products by minors it is necessary that an ordinance be adopted which restricts access to tobacco product samples by minors, in the interest of promoting their health, safety and welfare.

(Prior gen. code § 2-182.0)

It is declared to be in the public interest and in the interest of the residents of Alameda County to prohibit tobacco sample promotions and giveaways.

(Ord. 98-6 § 2 (part): prior gen. code § 2-182.1)

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed as hereafter set out, unless it shall be apparent from the context that they have a different meaning:

"Distribute" means to give, sell, deliver, dispense, issue, or cause or hire any person to give, sell, deliver, dispense, issue or offer to give, sell, deliver, dispense or issue, as part of an advertising plan or program.

"Person," shall mean an individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, unincorporated association, corporation, estate, trust, trustee, or any other group or combination of the above acting as a unit;

"Sample" means a distribution to a member or members of the general public at no cost or at nominal cost for the purpose, in whole or in part, of promoting a tobacco product;

"Tobacco product" means any substance containing tobacco leaf, including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, smoking tobacco, and smokeless tobacco.

(Prior gen. code § 2-182.2)

No person shall knowingly distribute or furnish without charge, or cause to be furnished without charge to the general public, cigarettes or other tobacco products, or coupons for cigarettes or other tobacco products, at any event open to the public, or in any public place, including, but not limited to, any right-of-way, mall or shopping center, park, playground, and any other property owned by the city, any school district, or any park district, except in retail tobacco stores.

(Ord. 98-6 § 2 (part): prior gen. code § 2-182.3)

A. A violation of any of the provisions of this chapter may be redressed by civil action and may further be charged by the District Attorney as a misdemeanor. The penalty for conviction shall be a fine or imprisonment or both not to exceed the limits set forth in California Penal Code Section 19.

B. Each person shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of this chapter is committed, continued or permitted by such person and shall be punishable accordingly.

(Prior gen. code § 2-182.18)