Cleveland City Council is teaming up with the Cleveland Department of Public Health to push for ordinances of local smoke and vape shops to address what officials and community leaders say is a growing problem.
The number of smoke shops has nearly doubled between 2022 and 2025, according to the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at Case Western Reserve University. While the total number is not certain, there are between 450 and 600 vape and smoke shops in the city, said Dr. David Margolius, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health.
These shops are businesses that use at least 20% of their floor space to sell kratom, CBD, delta-8 and other cannabinoids; tobacco and nicotine products; electric smoking devices (vapes); and accessories to these products…