Coalition, Husmann question business’ tobacco/vape permit

     Jennifer Husmann with the Jones County Safe and Healthy Youth Coalition and ASAC presented some information to the Monticello City Council during their Aug. 7 meeting concerning an application for a cigarette/tobacco/nicotine/vapor permit.

   Up in Smoke LLC is the one applying for the permit. Consumer products would be sold inside Off His Rocker in downtown Monticello, located at 211 E. First St. Up in Smoke also sells similar products on E. Main Street in Anamosa.

   Husmann's goal was to provide the council with background information about the products sold, their impact on adults and minors, and to ask the council to hold off on approving the permit.

   Husmann said the real concern with some of the products Up in Smoke sells is the Delta and THC contained within the products.

   "The point of this education is not to target stores who are selling the products, but really the industry that is creating that is creating the products," Husmann said. "Especially these new Delta-8/9/10 and THC-0 gummy candies with cartoon characters and rainbow colors.

   "The industry is selling all of these things with fruity and candy flavors," she continued.

   Husmann said both adults and children are overdosing on these products.

   In November 2021, she visited Up in Smoke in Anamosa to see for herself the types of products they sell and their packaging. She said the store had a neon sign in their window declaring "kratoms sold here." (Kratom is a stimulant known to create serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures, and substance use disorder (SUD).)

   Husmann talked to the store clerk about the work ASAC does with treatment services. She shared that medical personnel across the state are seeing babies being born addicted to kratom because their mothers used the substance while pregnant. She said it's the same as mothers using heroin while pregnant.

   "Kratom is illegal in some states already," shared Husmann.

   She said "most of the products" inside the store contained a small warning label regarding being consumed while pregnant.

   The store clerk also assured her they would personally warn women who are pregnant who come into their store, and they would not sell any of their products to those underage.

   Ten weeks later, which also happened to be three days after their permit was approved by the City of Anamosa due to a change in ownership, a tobacco compliance check was conducted inside the Up in Smoke.

   "Unfortunately, one of their workers sold tobacco to a teen," Husmann offered.

   They did pass their most recent compliance check, though.

   Again, this April, Husmann revisited the store to note the products sold with Delta and/or THC. She found out they also have an approved consumable hemp permit as well.

   "Most of the products they have had a certificate of analysis that shows it's supposed to be .3 percent THC or less," she said. "But there's been a big loophole in the law, and we're working to close this on a national level, too."

   It goes back to the 2018 Farm Bill, and whether products, such as those sold at Up in Smoke, contain ingredients that are synthetically- or naturally-derived.

   Husmann said if the city can't deny their permit to sell in Monticello, she asked if the city would consider a zoning ordinance noting where businesses such as this can be physically located within then community, away from schools or other places children frequent.

   "Youth who start vaping are seven times more likely to start smoking cigarettes."

   She said many communities have already passed similar ordinances, such as Garner, Iowa, and Milwaukee, Wis.

   "Iowa laws do not allow us to totally ban products that are legal to sell in Iowa," she said. Delta, THC, and kratom products are legal in Iowa due to the loophole.

   Husmann also did a scan of stores in Monticello that sell vaping and tobacco products.

   "Thankfully there is just one store that sells a few fruity-flavored vapes. Dollar General sells tobacco, but they don't sell vapes at all, which is great because they're closest to the schools."

   Husmann said the industry is taking advantage of the loophole in the Farm Bill, and the Coalition and ASAC are working to change that.

   "Is it possible at all to wait 30 to 60 days (on the permit) to figure out what's best for the health and safety of Monticello?" she asked the council.

   After speaking to the city attorney, City Administrator Russ Farnum said the licensee (Up in Smoke LLC) has complied with the current laws; therefore, the city is obliged to approve the permit.

   "I'm not asking you to deny it," clarified Husmann. "I was just seeing if there was a way you could zone it. Or if you could wait a bit."

   Furthermore, Farnum advised against trying to regulate specific products or a family of products. He said the industry changes so quickly concerning products that contain THC, for example.

   He was not opposed to working with Husmann and the Coalition to come up with an ordinance to bring to the council for consideration.

   The council approved the permit for Up in Smoke LLC. Council member Brenda Hanken was opposed.