File Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
AURORA | Aurora lawmakers unanimously agreed Monday to crack down on sales of nicotine products to juveniles and limit stores that primarily sell products like vape and herbal products like Kratom.
Months in the making, the bill was given final approval Monday.
City officials said it could take months to fully enact the new inspection and licensing system.
Young people from Aurora schools, health professionals and advocates from Adams and Arapahoe counties and within Aurora have been giving testimonies regularly at city council meetings for months, hoping to create local legislation in Aurora to stop the youth from obtaining tobacco products and other illicit drugs.
The proposed ordinance will establish city-level licensing for retailers selling tobacco, Kratom, certain hemp-derived THC products and related paraphernalia.
“The primary purpose is to reduce youth access,” said Aurora Manager of Licensing, Trevor Vaughn.
A group of young people with United for Better Futures, a branch of the Aurora Partners for Thriving Youth Coalition, has been working together for months to build awareness through regular testimony at “public invited to be heard” sessions during city council meetings.
“If we want to prevent lifelong addiction, we must prevent youth initiation,” said Program Coordinator for Children’s Hospital Colorado, Joyce Baker. “This is why strong local action matters. Our kids deserve to grow up free of addiction, free from preventable lung disease and free from lifelong consequences of nicotine exposure.”
Now enacted, the city will begin conducting compliance checks twice a year, with a heavy penalty structure more aggressive than the state’s current tobacco enforcement system, according to Vaughn.
A fourth violation within 36 months could result in a company losing its license to sell such products.
“A tobacco retail framework is not a standalone solution,” said Haley Foster, the coordinator of United for Better Futures, a branch of the long-standing Aurora Partners for Thriving Youth coalition. “It has never been intended to be one. Rather, it’s a policy lever that complements education, family engagement, school support and youth‑led efforts.”
The proposed Aurora license will also create local oversight and extend enforcement authority to psychoactive hemp products and paraphernalia, including items marketed with youth-oriented branding, such as Hello Kitty pipes.
“It’s been one of the biggest disciplinary actions that we have to take in the schools any given day, you can go into a bathroom, into a classroom sometimes, and you will see students who are vaping,” said the Dean of Students at Rangeview High School, DeLisha Boyd.
She said she knows students buy vapes in bulk and sell them to their peers, creating a black market for them inside the schools. Vaping has also caused violence in school between students from addiction, such as when one student borrows another student’s vape and doesn’t return it.
Boyd said vaping has even caused plumbing issues because students will vape in the bathrooms and if a staff or faculty member walks in, the students will flush their vapes, causing the school thousands of dollars in damages.
Colorado law already restricts the sale of tobacco, Kratom and certain high-THC hemp products to those 21 and older. Though Vaughn said that state licensing does not comprehensively cover all product categories.
Fines are harsh and get bigger amid multiple infractions
First violation: Minimum $1,000 fine.
Second violation within 36 months: $2,000 fine and 7-day suspension.
Third violation within 36 months: $2,650 fine and 21-day suspension.
Fourth violation within 36 months: Revocation of license.
The measure also has language to try and limit the number of vape shops and similar businesses in the city. New spacing restrictions prevent new shops from being 1,500 feet from schools, 500 feet between “incidental” retailers, such as grocery or convenience stores, 2,000 feet between other vape and smoke shops, and two miles between hookah lounges.
Vaughn said existing businesses will be grandfathered in and allowed to transfer licenses to new owners, provided they operate lawfully.
Aurora has approximately 335 vape-shop-like retailers affected by the proposal, including 272 incidental retailers and 55 smoke shops, according to Vaughn.
A proposed $500 annual license fee is expected to generate roughly $170,000, Vaughn said. Enough to fund a new full-time supervisory position. Vaughn projected an additional $30,000 in potential fine revenue based on last year’s compliance failures under state enforcement.
On Monday, city lawmakers postponed an accompanying measure detailing how industry and city inspection reporting will be implemented. Lawmakers agreed to study the issue and bring it back to a future city council meeting.