New smoke or vape shops in Alexandria, Virginia, will not be able to open near schools under legislation that was passed Saturday by the city’s council.
“The legislation aims to reduce youth exposure to stores selling tobacco, nicotine and hemp products,” said Ann Horowitz, principal urban planner at Alexandria’s planning and zoning department.
The new bill bans businesses that sell those products from opening within 1,000 feet of schools.
The decision comes after the Virginia General Assembly passed a law earlier this year that grants local jurisdictions more authority to impose restrictions on where smoke and vape shops can operate.
It’s part of a broader effort to combat rising youth vaping rates.
“This indicates that stores selling tobacco, nicotine and hemp products may not locate within 1,000 linear feet of a child day care center or a school that accommodates students up to the high school level,” Horowitz said.
The bill does not impact businesses that are currently open.
“All existing stores of this type that have been in operation before July 1, 2024, may continue to operate,” said Horowitz.
According to city records, 15 smoke or vape shops are currently located in Alexandria. Nine of them are within 1,000 feet of a school or day care center, but because they were opened before July of this year, they will be allowed to stay put.
According to the FDA, fewer adolescents were vaping this year than at any point in the last decade. The latest survey numbers showed that the teen vaping rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% in 2023.
More than 1.6 million students reported vaping in August of this year — about one-third the number reported in 2019, when underage vaping peaked with the use of discrete, high-nicotine e-cigarettes like Juul.
This year’s decline was mainly driven by a half-million fewer high school students who reported using e-cigarettes in the past month, officials said. Vaping was unchanged among middle schoolers, but remains less common in that group, at 3.5% of students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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