Onondaga County is starting an anti-vaping campaign aimed at discouraging youth from picking up the habit. The health department is using $1.4 million from a statewide settlement with vape device manufacturer JUUL for educational programming.
Director of Community Health at the health department Rebecca Shultz says they’re up against big companies trying to hook youth on their products.
“What we're hoping to do is to first of all mitigate the advertising impact and some of the false information that's been relayed to youth through some of these companies falsely claiming that, well, this isn't dangerous for your health or if this is OK to use.”
Shultz says they plan to also counter social media influencers who try to convince youth to buy vaping products.
The county is receiving eight payments in settlement funds through 2030. Shultz says programming is modeled after Tobacco-Free CNY, which aims to reduce tobacco use.
“The current grant structure doesn't allow us to do a lot of work around vaping, so this will allow us to kind of enhance what we're already doing," Shultz said. "It's not going to be necessarily starting up a new program per se, but we can enhance again some of the educational messages.”
Shultz says holding retailers responsible for marketing illegal flavored vapes or selling to underage customers also limits access to the products. But enforcement varies by municipality. County legislator Colleen Gunnip of Salina says there are restrictions in her town.
“Any of these stores that are selling these products have to get a permit for the town, and if they have any violations against them, then the town will not issue a permit and therefore shut them down,” Gunnip said.
The City of Syracuse has a similar ordinance requiring state-licensed tobacco and vape retailers get a city license. The law also caps the number of stores and prohibits locations near schools and parks.
