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FIGHTING BACK IN LIVERMORE
LIVERMORE YOUTH & TOBACCO
Help protect Livermore youth. Sign our petition.
Cheap Tobacco Products Are Sold In Livermore Stores
In 2024, most Livermore tobacco retailers sold cigarillos for $1.99 or less. These products are cigarette-sized or larger and wrapped in tobacco leaf. They are the second most popular kind of tobacco after e-cigarettes among California youth and are often used with marijuana. A third of Livermore schools are within 1000 feet of a tobacco retailer.
Photo: Donovan Seymour
Livermore Students Know
Where to Go to Get Tobacco
Forty-one percent of Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) juniors say it’s easy to get cigarettes and 59% say the same about e-cigarettes.
In 2022, 38 of Livermore’s more than 60 tobacco retailers were visited by an underage decoy and five of the stores sold to them (13%). Surveys consistently find that many underage users get tobacco from stores, and very few buy their devices online.
© California Department of Public Health
Stock photo. Posed by model.
LGBTQ+ Youth In Livermore Use More Tobacco
LGBTQ+ youth face more stress because of discrimination, which leads them to try tobacco earlier and at higher rates than their peers.
Queer LVJUSD students are twice as likely to report feeling hopelessness or persistent sadness and up to ten times as likely to use tobacco.
Livermore Community Members Want Stronger Policies
A 2021 Bay Area Community Resources survey of 104 Livermore community members found support for more comprehensive tobacco laws:
77%
wanted to reduce the number of locations where tobacco could be sold
73%
supported prohibiting discounts for tobacco products
60%
believed Livermore should set a minimum price for tobacco citywide
© California Department of Public Health
Livermore Can Continue to Lead
Livermore was ahead of the curve in 2019 when the city took the bold step of ending the sale of flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes. In 2020, the city fought off a Big Tobacco-funded referendum that sought to reverse that progress.
Since then, Pleasanton, Unincorporated Alameda County, Hayward, and other Bay Area jurisdictions have adopted even stronger laws to address where and how tobacco is sold.
Cities on the leading edge are ending all sales of tobacco in stores.
Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills have not allowed any tobacco sales since 2021. Capitola, Santa Cruz, and Santa Cruz County will no longer allow filtered products like cigarettes and cigars after 2027.