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F. It has come to the City Council's attention that at least two individuals have made efforts in an attempt to establish a hookah parlor in Santa Ana. G. The City is not, at this time, able to determine under what circumstances, if any, hookah parlors should be established within the City for the following reasons: 1. In other cities, the operation of hookah parlors have led to complaints of loud music, drinking in public and large crowds milling outside of the site. 2. The Orange County Register reports (November 10, 2005) that in two and one-half (2%) years the Anaheim Police Department has responded to 413 incidents tied to hookah parlors. 3. This same news report further states that illegal weapons and underage drinking were found by an Anaheim Police Department vice operation directed at hookah parlors. 4. This news report further stated that some hookah parlors in Anaheim had been the target of fire bombs and arson. 5. While there is a widespread belief that smoking from a hookah pipe is safer than other types of tobacco smoking, the World Health Organization ("WHO") reported in 2005 that "waterpipe smokers and second-hand smokers [are] at risk for the same kinds of diseases as are caused by cigarette smoking, including cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and adverse effects during pregnancy." 6. The WHO investigatory panel also found that a "typical 1-hour long waterpipe smoking session involves inhaling 100-200 times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette," and that the smoke, even after passing through water, "contains high levels of toxic compounds, including high levels of carbon monoxide, metals and cancer-causing chemicals." 7. The WHO investigatory panel also found that sharing a hookah's mouthpiece poses a serious risk of transmission of communicable diseases. 8. The WHO investigatory panel found that the common practice of sweetening and flavoring hookah tobacco, giving it a sweet taste and smell, may account for the increase of its use among young people who otherwise avoid smoking. 9. The smoking of tobacco in a hookah "is frightening because it is a gateway toward a lifetime use of tobacco, including cigarettes," according to Dr. Christopher Loffredo, Ph.D., Director of the Cancer Genetics and Epidemiology program at Georgetown University Medical Center, who has studied hookah smoking since 1997. Dr. Loffredo further reports that: "People think the water absorbs the toxins, and that is true to some extent Ordinance No. NS-2735 Page 2 of 5