- April 26, 2024
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Last week, A1 Hookah Lounge closed. The cardboard signs that hung outside of it disappeared along with the furniture inside of it.
Teresa Williams, a tobacco prevention specialist with the Flagler County Health Department, said the business was marketing toward youth. Before the lounge’s closure, a detective had been looking into claims that the business sells without carding, she said.
The business’ Facebook page includes photos from its lounge with local high school students tagged in them — some of them younger than 18. The page also advertises its “teen nights” for patrons ages 14-18.
Williams said the closure is a good sign. She spoke at Thursday’s meeting of the Flagler Beach City Commission, asking commissioners to pass a resolution discouraging businesses within the city from selling flavored tobacco products — which range from hookah to mints to toothpicks.
Courtney Crum, a Matanzas High School student, spoke to the commission as well, saying that flavored tobacco products are packaged to look like candy and are inexpensive, making them kid-friendly.
The FDA hasn’t approved these products, Crum said, so there are no labels on them indicating nicotine content. That leads to a misconception among youth that the products aren’t as dangerous as cigarettes, although they’re just as addictive, Crum said.
“Using tobacco is an adult decision,” she said. “So why are (tobacco companies) targeting kids?”
The Bunnell City Commission passed a resolution Nov. 26 discouraging the sale of flavored tobacco products. Flagler Beach commissioners decided to use that as a model for a similar resolution, which they will vote on at their next meeting.
