A teen secretly smoking an e-cigarette. Picture by way of Pixabay
An finish to the sale of flavored tobacco within the metropolis of San Diego is in attain, a lot to the reduction of college districts, youth-serving organizations, well being practitioners, and fogeys.
The SAAFE Act, launched by Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, will finish the sale of youth-targeted flavored vapes, flavored cigarillos, and menthol cigarettes if adopted. Hookah, premium flavored cigars, flavored loose-leaf tobacco, and non-flavored tobacco merchandise will stay on retailer cabinets.
The San Diego Metropolis Council will take up the ordinance on Monday, April 25, and observers anticipate an lively assembly.
The native tobacco trade’s lobbying arm, the Neighborhood Market Affiliation, has been vocal in opposition to the ordinance, as candy, fruity and minty flavors work to hook the following era of tobacco customers. They’ve beforehand cited analysis from a San Francisco examine, falsely indicating that eradicating flavored vapes from the retail setting pushes youth to make use of cigarettes as an alternative.
Jonathan Winickoff, director of pediatric analysis at Massachusetts Common Hospital’s distinguished Tobacco Analysis & Remedy Middle, reviewed the examine and disagrees. He notes that the examine was accomplished earlier than enforcement of San Francisco’s flavored tobacco ban had taken full impact — solely 17% of outlets had been compliant on the time of the examine –- thus invalidating the evaluation.
Winickoff and his colleagues cite information from Oakland that discovered common cigarette use decreased after flavored tobacco restrictions, and much more importantly, level to analysis demonstrating that whole tobacco use by younger individuals aged 18-24 decreased by almost 18% after San Francisco’s flavored tobacco gross sales restrictions.
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Upon inspecting what’s driving increased vaping charges amongst youth, ending the sale of flavored tobacco is smart. Contemplate the next details:
Flavors hook children. Younger individuals are naturally drawn to candy, fruity, minty flavors, and when an addictive substance like nicotine is masked in ardour fruit or bitter apple, it’s simpler for them to really feel snug experimenting.
The quantity of nicotine in every flavored vaping machine is the equal of 1 to 10 packs of cigarettes. It’s a very concentrated quantity of nicotine in every machine, and a few teenagers vape a whole e-cigarette every day, successfully consuming the identical quantity of nicotine in 20-200 cigarettes.
The adolescent mind is extra simply addicted than grownup brains as a result of it’s nonetheless growing.
These factors underscore why surveys present 4 in 10 highschool college students within the San Diego Unified Faculty District have vaped.
However when policymakers stand with educators and enact insurance policies that defend the psychological and bodily well being of scholars, our younger individuals have a greater likelihood of resisting the attract of flavored tobacco. The trustees of San Diego Unified, Sweetwater Union, and the San Diego County Board of Training have all handed resolutions in assist of the SAAFE Act, asking San Diego and Chula Vista metropolis council members to deal with the vaping epidemic sweeping college campuses by ending the sale of flavored tobacco merchandise.
These elected college board members perceive a easy however highly effective reality grounded in information from the 110 California municipalities with flavored tobacco bans on the books: eradicating factors of entry to tobacco reduces the speed of youth use.
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True to type, the Neighborhood Market Affiliation’s commentary makes a second deceptive declare: when one metropolis ended flavored tobacco gross sales, neighboring cities noticed a rise within the sale of those merchandise.
Earlier than limiting tobacco purchases to clients over age of 21 turned federal legislation, many municipalities adopted this coverage as a neighborhood ordinance. Winickoff studied the results of accelerating the tobacco age to 21 in these cities and in contrast them to cities with out the elevated age requirement.
Because the “Tobacco 21” coverage gained nationwide momentum, Huge Tobacco lobbyists offered the identical argument that the Neighborhood Market Affiliation is presenting now: Folks will journey to different cities for tobacco. The analysis exhibits this buyer migration didn’t occur.
In actual fact, Winickoff and his colleagues discovered that the “Tobacco 21” coverage resulted in a 47% discount in highschool tobacco use, with no indication that youth had been touring to different cities to buy the merchandise.
Youth should not travelling throughout metropolis strains to buy flavored tobacco. Whereas neighboring cities may even see a slight uptick in gross sales, inside the metropolis limits of these municipalities the place flavored tobacco merchandise are banned, youth use drops.
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This actuality validates the rationale of the SAAFE Act to maintain the addictive poison of flavored tobacco merchandise out of our youngsters’ lungs.
“It’s not rocket science; limiting flavored tobacco gross sales is an efficient technique to stop youth from initiating tobacco product use,” Winickoff mentioned.
However increasing the coverage lens past youth entry exhibits why flavored tobacco bans defend adults, too. It’s a incontrovertible fact that e-cigarette use causes irritation in a number of organ programs within the physique. Use additionally will increase anxiousness, impairs studying and reminiscence, and causes extreme lung harm and loss of life in some instances.
The aim of the SAAFE Act is to guard youth, communities of colour, school college students, LGBTQ+ neighborhood members — in a phrase, everybody who’s focused by Huge Tobacco’s predatory advertising and marketing ways.
The San Diego Metropolis Council has a possibility to guard our youth and communities from the poisonous brew of flavored nicotine-delivery merchandise.
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Huge Tobacco and the Neighborhood Market Affiliation could say in any other case, however historical past has proven what’s true: public well being improves when polices are adopted that scale back the hurt brought on by tobacco merchandise.
Who wouldn’t stand with San Diegans to champion wholesome, resilient communities? We’ll discover out when our elected metropolis council representatives solid their votes for or in opposition to the SAAFE Act.
Cynthia Knapp is this system supervisor for the San Diego Smoke-Free Mission, a program of SAY San Diego. Jim Crittenden is coordinator of alcohol, tobacco, and different drug prevention for San Diego County Workplace of Training.
EL SEGUNDO — When they began to survey the roster and all that went haywire before their arrival, general manager Joe Hortiz, coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter decided the Chargers’ defense could be and should be upgraded for the 2024 season.
Small changes were made, minor tweaks that got little notice around the known football universe. Mostly, though, there was a buy-in from the players that Hortiz, Harbaugh and Minter noticed from the first days of practice in the spring. Matters could be improved by leaps and bounds without major changes.
Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack, two veteran outside linebackers and cornerstones of the defense, agreed in the offseason to take pay cuts so Hortiz could make the moves he made and still remain under the salary cap. According to Minter, it “set an unbelievable tone” for what was to follow.
Poona Ford strengthened the defensive line. Denzel Perryman did the same with the inside linebackers. Bud Dupree added depth to the already fearsome outside linebacker corps. Defensive back Elijah Molden was the latest addition, acquired after training camp, and he was an impact player.
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In no time at all, it became evident that the Chargers had created something special. By midseason, they were firmly entrenched as the NFL’s stingiest defense, with a chance to give up the fewest points in the league in a season for the first time since they were the AFL champions way back in 1963.
Going into their regular-season finale against the Raiders (4-12) on Sunday in Las Vegas, the Chargers (10-6) have given up 17.6 points per game, the fewest in the NFL. They’re coming off a playoff-clinching victory over the New England Patriots in which they gave up only a touchdown and an extra point.
“What we found, and I don’t know if (Harbaugh) has said this, but there was an unbelievable thing going on here,” Minter said. “For whatever reason. It wasn’t like you had to change a bunch of guys’ attitudes and work ethic. It was unbelievable from the second we walked in the door, and I think it’s gone both ways.”
Now, finishing the regular season with the NFL’s best defense is a pride thing.
“It’s cool, man,” Mack said. “It’s a cool goal, something we probably didn’t think we could accomplish early in the season. To have that opportunity, that capability, is dope. Carrying that into the postseason (next week) and getting better is the ultimate process for us right now.”
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Mack and safety Derwin James Jr. were named Thursday to the Pro Bowl for the ninth time and fourth time, respectively, in their careers. They were honored, but it wasn’t as if they were the only standouts in a defense that has set a high standard for success in the new regime’s first season.
“It would mean a lot because that was our ultimate goal,” James said of the possibility of having the league’s top defense after Sunday’s game against the Raiders. “Every day we break it down to be the best. That’s our mindset. That’s our goal. We take the field to do that every day.
“It’s coming out strong, starting fast. You’ve got to start the game fast, and I feel like we’ve been starting out fast on defense all year long. We’ve also finished games good, too. So, we just want to continue to build on that. Every guy is working toward that. We’re definitely getting better as a team.”
INJURY REPORT
The Chargers ruled out running back Gus Edwards (ankle) and wide receiver Joshua Palmer (foot) for Sunday’s game, but their status for the wild-card playoff game next weekend was uncertain. Linebacker Denzel Perryman (groin) was doubtful to play Sunday and safety Alohi Gilman (hamstring) was questionable. Gilman has been sidelined since he was hurt in a game Nov. 25 against the Baltimore Ravens.
A man was startled awake by a fiery car crash in his front yard in La Mesa. Instead of calling police, he jumped into action, pulling a passenger from the burning car.
The accident happened just before 1 a.m. on Baltimore Drive near Laport Street.
Kerry Campbell wasted no time getting his front yard, ordinarily the envy of the neighborhood, back in order. Fourteen hours earlier, it looked more like a bonfire.
“My wife and I hear a loud boom,” Campbell said. “I used one fire extinguisher and realized it wasn’t going to do anything. It felt like it lasted five minutes. Looking at the video, it lasted less than two minutes. I went around to the driver’s side door and pried it open and just pulled her out.”
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She is the 25-year-old passenger of an incinerated Toyota Scion that crashed in front of Campbell’s home. Police say her injuries were not life threatening. She may have Campbell to thank for that.
“She was awake but not verbal,” Campbell said. “Clearly injured, but I didn’t see any blood.”
Neighbor Elizabeth Munn was terrified the fire might spread to her home next door.
“I was panicking because I have pets,” Munn said. “I was running in, trying to find them all. The car was almost completely engulfed in flames at that point. It was really scary. In the movies, you see cars on fire that go kaboom.”
Campbell not only pulled the young passenger from her burning car. His doorbell camera video shows that Campbell did it in boxers and bare feet — to his wife’s dismay.
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“Kerry, get out of there,” his wife is heard saying in the recording.
How the car got there is a tale with many twists. Witnesses say the Scion was northbound on Baltimore Drive. Some 100 yards from Campbell’s house, the driver lost control, crossed the median and then collided with an evergreen tree in the middle of the road.
The force of the collision was so great, car glass was sprayed on the roof of the home across the street. The Scion barreled the wrong way toward Campbell’s front yard, finally coming to rest after crashing into his palm tree.
“A little emotional afterwards because my wife and kids were inside, and it could have ended up a lot worse,” Campbell said. “I feel good. I feel fortunate.”
Campbell says his actions were reflexive. He wasn’t thinking about it. He just did what needed to be done. He’s had no formal fire training. He was trained as a Marine 26 years ago, and he credits that training for being able to respond when needed.
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La Mesa police say the 20-year-old driver remained at the scene and was arrested for driving under the influence.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Carlos Stewart had 20 points in Santa Clara’s 81-80 win over San Diego on Thursday night.
Stewart shot 5 for 10 (4 for 7 from 3-point range) and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line for the Broncos (10-6, 2-1 West Coast Conference). Camaron Tongue scored 11 points, going 3 of 5 and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. Adama Bal had 11 points and shot 3 of 8 from the field, including 1 for 6 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 5 from the line.
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Kjay Bradley Jr. led the Toreros (4-11, 1-1) in scoring, finishing with 23 points, six assists and three steals. Santiago Trouet added 21 points, 11 rebounds and two steals for San Diego. Steven Jamerson II finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
Tongue scored six points in the first half for Santa Clara, who led 35-27 at the break. Stewart scored 16 points in the second half to help lead Santa Clara to a one-point victory.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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