By Miriam Raftery
March 12, 2025 (El Cajon) – By a unanimous vote, El Cajon’s City Council yesterday voted to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the sale of vaping or e-cigarette devices disguised as other products.
According to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, teens are using stealth vaping products. Some are hidden in backpacks or hoodies. Others resemble flash drives, fidget spinners, pens, smart watches or hand-held gaming devices, making it easy for kids to use tobacco even in schools. Some are sold as single-use devices, making them affordable and accessible to young people.
“I received letters from each one of our local school districts asking us to do this,” said Councilman Gary Kendrick, author of the measure. In addition to tobacco, he noted, “kids are using cannabis...students are not going to be very well educated if they’re stoned out of their minds using these fake devices.”
The ordinance will impose a fine of $2,500 for a first offense by a local retailer. Subsequent offenses will result in fines and temporary license suspensions; a fourth offense will result in permanent revocation of the retailer’s tobacco license. Retailers will be entitled to due process to appeal.
Kendrick noted that the “primary goal of local government is to protect citizens, and children are the ones who need the most protection.”
The ordinance was approved 5-0.
Health and Human Services offers tips for parents and educators to help spot these clandestine devices, such as watching for hoodies or backpacks with a hose woven through the fabric, enabling the user to vape discreetly. Also be on the lookout for disposable e-cigarettes, which can’t be refilled and may resemble color pens or flash drives (thumb drives); the latter is the most popular stealth vaping device.
In 2024, 55.6% of youths using e-cigarettes reported using disposable versions that didn’t have to be hidden away at home, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey.
The problem is widespread nationally. The survey foundthat of high school students who use e-cigarettes, 26.3% use them daily and over 38% use them 20 or more days each month, becoming nicotine dependent.
The American Lung Association has developed a free educational program that schools can use as an alternative to disciplining children found with e-cigarettes, to encourage vaping youths to quit.