Routt County Public Health lays out options for licensing tobacco sellers, citing teens' easy access to vapes

Key points

• Routt County Public Health was scheduled to brief county commissioners Monday, Nov. 9, on licensing stores that sell tobacco and vapes, either in unincorporated Routt alone or jointly with Steamboat Springs. The item was listed as information only.
• The department's slides say 56% of Routt County high schoolers believe it is easy to get a vape and 6.8% used one before age 13. They give no survey year; their statewide figures match the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, and the statewide share fell from 49% in 2023 to 45% in 2025.
• Colorado already licenses tobacco retailers. Steamboat's own non-cigarette tobacco retailer license costs $130 a year, with a $100 fine for a first sale to a minor, according to the slides; Pitkin and Lake counties fine a first sale $1,000 and suspend the license for three days.
• One disposable vape can hold about as much nicotine as 590 cigarettes, according to a Stanford Medicine comparison in the county's slides. Federal health officials say nicotine can harm the brain as it develops until about age 25; the slides add that long-term effects of vaping products have not yet been shown.
• The slides don't set a fee or say whether a county license would restrict flavors; they suggest exploring enforcement through the health department. Tobacco is on a tentative city-county joint meeting agenda for Nov. 17.

More than half of Routt County's high school students believe it is easy to get a vape, according to slides Routt County Public Health prepared for the county commissioners. The slides give no survey year, and they present a tobacco retail license for the stores that sell vapes as a "Possible solution."

The presentation was on the commissioners' work session agenda for 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9, under Interim Public Health Director Madysen Linsacum. It was listed as information only, with no recommended action and no fiscal impact stated. The slides lay out two paths: a license for tobacco sellers in unincorporated Routt County, or one run with Steamboat Springs under an intergovernmental agreement or memorandum of understanding.

The county had not posted audio of the session as of about 5 p.m. Monday, so this story is based on the meeting packet and other public records. The Independent will add what commissioners said once the recording is available.

What the slides say about kids and vapes

In Routt County, 56% of high schoolers believe it is easy to get an electronic vapor product, and 6.8% of high school students used a vaping product before age 13, according to the slides, which list Community Health Specialist Colleen Garrecht-Connelly on the title slide.

Statewide, the same slide says, 48.9% of high schoolers and 24.3% of middle schoolers feel it would be easy to get one. Those match the state health department's results from the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, 49% and 24%. The state's 2025 results put the high school figure at 45%, down from 49% in 2023, and say 10% of high schoolers vaped in the past month, up from 9%. The slides don't give Routt County's 2025 figures.

The slides also say 89.4% of Colorado high school students who tried to buy tobacco in a store were not refused because of their age. One slide says that since July 2023, "the failure rate for minor compliance checks was 6.5% during DOR inspections and 25.3% during FDA inspections." The slide shows those figures on a state dashboard of tobacco retailers set to Routt County. That view lists 32 licensed tobacco retailers in the county, 28 inside municipalities and four in unincorporated areas, and one within 500 feet of a school.

Most young people who use tobacco or nicotine started with a flavored product, the slides say: 81% of youth and 86% of young adults. E-cigarettes and disposable vapes are the most used tobacco products among young people.

What health officials say nicotine does to young people

One disposable vape can hold about as much nicotine as 590 cigarettes, according to a Stanford Medicine comparison included in the county's slides. A pack of cigarettes has about 22 milligrams of nicotine, the comparison says. One JUUL pod has about 41 milligrams, the amount in about 37 cigarettes; one Vuse pod has about 90 milligrams, or about 82 cigarettes; and one Elf Bar disposable has about 650 milligrams, or about 590 cigarettes.

The tobacco industry "manipulates nicotine levels and the speed of nicotine delivery to create the most addictive product possible," the slides say.

The slides say nicotine can harm adolescent brain development, may cause memory and attention problems, can worsen mental health symptoms and increases the risk of substance use disorder in adulthood.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nicotine can harm the parts of a teenager's brain that control attention, learning, mood and impulse control. The brain keeps developing until about age 25, the CDC says, and vape aerosol can contain cancer-causing chemicals and heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead. "No tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, are safe, especially for children, teens, and young adults," the agency says.

Nationally, 1.63 million middle and high school students currently used e-cigarettes in 2024, according to the CDC. Among them, 87.6% used flavored products and 26.3% vaped every day. In 2020, 63.9% of students who vaped said they wanted to quit.

The slides say chemicals found in e-cigarettes "have been linked to serious lung injury and heart disease," and that tobacco and nicotine companies "use misleading product descriptions to make products more enticing and conceal the danger." They also note that "evidence has yet to show the longitudinal effects" of vaping products, and the CDC says scientists are still learning about short- and long-term effects.

What a license would change

Colorado already licenses tobacco retailers under a 2020 state law, HB20-1001, and a 2019 law, HB19-1033, lets local governments regulate nicotine products, the slides note. A local license would build on state and federal law and fill its gaps, they say.

Steamboat Springs requires a non-cigarette tobacco retailer license, which the slides call an NCTRL. They list a $130 annual fee, a $100 fine for a first sale to a minor rising to $500 for a fourth, a $500 fine for each unlicensed sale, and suspension or revocation at the enforcement agency's discretion.

Pitkin County's license fee is $290 and Lake County's is $500. Both fine a first sale to a minor $1,000 and suspend the license for three days, and both revoke it for a year after a third violation.

Forty-two Colorado municipalities have a tobacco retail license, according to the slides, six of them at the county level, including the consolidated city-counties of Denver and Broomfield. Steamboat and Lakewood have a non-cigarette license instead. Fourteen have banned flavored products, including Pitkin County.

The slides' guidelines for a license program include inspecting every retailer at least twice a year, using underage buyers for compliance checks and a penalty schedule that includes suspension and revocation. They also suggest exploring "the possibility of enforcement through the health department." Public Health says it could draft ordinance language, plan the rollout, educate retailers and keep a retailer database.

Public Health's case

A local license would fill gaps in state and federal law, regulate flavors and limit where and how tobacco is sold, the slides say, and it would show that the community's well-being matters. The department argues a license helps local businesses too, listing "Supports Fair Competition" and "Bolsters Business Reputation and Trust."

Public Health's tobacco specialist is paid with grants. In December 2025, commissioners voted 3-0 to make the job full time, paid with state tobacco prevention and federal grant money and no general fund support, according to the minutes. The state grant will require at least three-quarters of a full-time position starting in its 2027 fiscal year, the department's then-director told the board.

This story is based on public records. The Independent did not seek comment from the county before publication and will update this story as the proposal moves forward.

By the numbers: license fees and penalties for selling to a minor

From Public Health's comparison slide. Steamboat's fines rise with repeat violations in a calendar year, Pitkin's in a calendar year and Lake's within 36 months.

• Steamboat Springs (non-cigarette license): $130 a year; $100 for a first sale to a minor, $200 for a second, $300 for a third and $500 for a fourth.
• Pitkin County: $290 license fee; $1,000 and a 3-day suspension for a first sale to a minor, $2,000 and a 30-day suspension for a second, $4,000 and a 1-year revocation for a third.
• Lake County: $500 license fee; $1,000 and a 3-day suspension for a first sale to a minor, $2,000 and a 30-day suspension for a second, $3,000 and a 1-year revocation for a third.

What's next

• Tue., Nov. 17 (tentative): Steamboat City Council's tentative agenda lists a joint meeting with the county commissioners on the dispatch agreement, the regional transit authority transition and tobacco. Tentative agendas can change.
• Recording: the commissioners post meeting audio at bcchearings.podbean.com. Monday's work session had not been posted as of about 5 p.m.
• The item was listed as information only; the packet proposes no vote.