(Photo by Robert Ruggiero via Unsplash)

Marin County topped other Bay Area jurisdictions in efforts to control tobacco use, according to the American Lung Association.

The American Lung Association gave Marin County a grade of A, the highest of any Bay Area county. Each Marin County city also earned an A, a distinction unmatched by any other county in the state.

The grades are based on each jurisdiction’s policies for smoke-free outdoor environments, smoke-free housing and for reducing the sale of tobacco products. 

Here’s how the counties rank by grade.1. Marin County — A2. Sonoma County — B3. Alameda County — B4. San Francisco — B5. San Mateo County — C6. Santa Clara County — C7. Contra Costa County — C8. Napa County — F9. Solano County — F“The Bay Area is doing the most when it comes to retail (tobacco) policies,” said Karina Camacho, policy manager for the American Lung Association in California.

Retail policies adopted by some jurisdictions include restricting the sale of flavored tobacco and banning the sale of tobacco in pharmacies, Camacho said.  

“That’s a big one,” she said of the pharmacy ban.

Source: American Lung Association

Keith Burbank is currently a fulltime reporter covering Alameda County and Oakland news for Bay City News. He has also worked on the Data Points project for Local News Matters, finding trends and stories about the region through data. In 2019, he was a California Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, producing a series about homeless deaths in Santa Clara County. He worked as a swing shift editor for the newswire for several years as well. Outside of journalism, Keith enjoys computer programming, math, economics and music.