The Corte Madera City Council introduced an ordinance Tuesday evening banning sales of all nicotine and tobacco products. The decision allows retailers in the Marin County town of about 10,000 residents to sell their remaining inventory through Jan. 31, 2027 with a hard stop on Feb. 1, 2027, when sales of any tobacco and nicotine products - including vapes and nicotine pouches like Zyn - will be prohibited.
The ordinance carried with 3-2 vote. The council made the decision on Aug. 4 to waive further readings, meaning the ordinance will return for adoption at a future meeting.
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Many callers during the public comment portion of the meeting, including several Redwood High School students from the Tobacco Use Prevention Education group, spoke in favor of the ordinance. Mari Silva, a senior at the school, said if a law like this was implemented years ago, many people would still have family members. "Think about the people not here," said Silva. "Protect one more family from this kind of loss."
John Watson, a junior at Redwood High School, shared that he lost his grandfather to smoking and said he encounters fellow students smoking in the bathroom every day. "I ask that you help those kids … you will be helping them and an entire generation," he said.
Other callers, including Corte Madera resident David Macpherson, said moving forward with the ordinance would be "a slippery slope." Another resident, Peter Massick, echoed this sentiment. "I'm also against prohibition," he said.
Council member Eli Beckman proposed moving forward with option 1B of the ordinance, which also bans the sale of tobacco and nicotine products used for "other therapeutic purposes." He said the council needed to listen to the high school students who came to them asking for help, and pointed out that bathroom urinals at Redwood High School were filled with nicotine pouches when he visited recently.
Council members Pat Ravasio and Fred Casissa voted in support of the ordinance along with Beckman.
Mayor Rosa Thomas and council member James Andrews voted against the ordinance. Andrews stated that "at least six" small, family-owned businesses would be negatively affected, including many minority employees. Thomas cited concerns about what creating this pathway to banning tobacco will result in.
Corte Madera has been making moves to curb tobacco usage and sales in the town since 2014, when it passed an ordinance regulating smoking in certain public places. The town began exploring the comprehensive ban in June 2026, when it held a public workshop to discuss the topic. No ordinance was passed at the time.
The Marin County town is following in the footsteps of its southern neighbor, Tiburon, which passed the most comprehensive tobacco and nicotine ban in the country in November 2025.
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This article originally published at Bay Area town moves to ban all tobacco and nicotine sales.