MILTON, Fla. — The Tobacco Free Santa Rosa Coalition will meet with members of the City of Milton’s Committee of the Whole meeting on March 19 at 5:30 p.m. Jessica Walker, chair of the coalition, will share with the Committee how a Tobacco Retail License (TRL) can benefit and help protect our community. 

A local TRL is a policy tool like those used to regulate alcohol, pharmacists, and restaurants by state and local governments. It is a method used to protect public health and safety by giving counties and municipalities more control over how tobacco and nicotine products are sold. As a result, youth access and exposure to these products will decrease.   

In the 2016 Surgeon General’s Report, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas Frieden wrote that tobacco use among youth and young adults in any form, including e-cigarette, is not safe. In recent years, e-cigarette use by youth and young adults has increased at an alarming rate. He further stated that e-cigarette companies appear to be using many of the advertising tactics the tobacco industry used to persuade a new generation of young people to use their products. Comprehensive tobacco control and prevention strategies for youth and young adults should address all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Further reductions in tobacco use and initiation by youth and young adults are achievable by regulating the manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and sales of tobacco products -- including e-cigarettes, and particularly to children – and combining those approaches with other proven strategies.[i]

For more information on the upcoming meeting or TRL, please contact Kristie Beckstrom at 850 564-2297 or Kristie.Beckstrom@flhealth.gov. To join the Tobacco Free Santa Rosa Coalition, contact Vince Nguyen at 850 564-2253 or Vince.Nguyen@flhealth.gov. 

[1] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2016.

[i] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2016.