I’m very proud to advocate for a Vallejo Tobacco Retail License (TRL) with a coalition of activists from LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) and in my capacity as Co-Chair of Tobacco Free Solano (a program of the Solano Department of Health aka Vibe Solano).

We spoke at the VCUSD School Board meeting and they approved the Tobacco control resolution unanimously. Thank you school board member John Fox for agendizing us and allowing us to speak about this important issue. We are also honored with an opportunity to speak at Vallejo City Council on April 11 about the issue for our city.

Adjoa, Nefer, Tino, Tara, Amaya, me and Jimmy.

With the passage of Prop 31 to ban most flavored tobacco products in California, there is a call to action for local jurisdictions to enforce this new edict. Surveys our coalition did in January, weeks after the law went into effect, showed poor compliance among the 25 tobacco retailers in Vallejo. A Vallejo-specific TRL can accomplish this. TRL’s like the one hundreds of California jurisdictions have like Benicia, are revenue NEUTRAL. The funding from the retail license fees pays for gravely needed code enforcement resources, a bolstering which we know Vallejo could use. TRL’s that are written well can:

1. Mandate minimum pack sizes and prices to deter youth economically from becoming addicted.
2. Minimize the concentration of large numbers of tobacco retailers in poorer neighborhoods.
3. Cover the exceptions that Prop 31 made for some flavored tobacco products like hookah, some cigars, etc.
4. Mandate that pharmacies (which literally exist to sell medicine), stop selling tobacco products; and
5. Most importantly, enforce the law prohibiting the sale of any tobacco products to minors under 21 years of age, those minors of which Big Tobacco is targeting the most since virtually all new nicotine addicts are underage.

Vallejo youth deserve a chance at living their best lives without the fate of struggling health due to a difficult addiction to break.  Please endorse a Vallejo-specific TRL to make an impact.

I’ve been doing activism against Big Tobacco for years as a volunteer. This week I got my official title as a Co-Chair of Tobacco Free Solano (TFS), a program of Vibe Solano (the Solano County Department of Health). It’s a two-year volunteer term. The picture below is a little gift package they sent which is very sweet. Little do they know I have no intention of watching the Super Bowl, but instead will be going to a play for Black History Month in Pinole, which was directed by my friend.