Prompted by local teens who oppose vaping, the San Diego City Council approved a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products last week, including e-cigarettes.
San Diego is the 125th city in California that has implemented a ban, according to Tobacco-Free Kids.
“Students don’t feel safe going to the bathroom because kids were vaping left and right in there,” said Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert who pioneered the ordinance. “That's part of the school district's lawsuit is they had to spend money installing anti-vape detectors and security guards in bathrooms to prevent kids from smoking the watermelon candy and cotton candy.”
Wilpert decided to put forth the new law after more than 1,000 teens signed a petition.
“I want to protect our youth because they don't get a say in elections in November and they are the ones asking us to do this,” she said.
As previously reported, the San Diego Unified School District sued Juul Labs, the leading producer of e-cigarettes, in 2020.
"Our Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley Weber, came to a hearing herself and called for a ban on menthol flavors because black and brown youth have been deliberately targeted for decades," von Wilpert told the Southern Californa Record. "It's been used to get them hooked for life on nicotine and tobacco products."
A University of North Carolina study found that about 80% of African American smokers use menthol cigarettes.
Californians will vote on a ballot initiative in November proposed by the California Coalition for Fairness that would overturn a statewide ban on most flavored tobacco products.
"If the statewide referendum is successful, it would not overturn local action," von Wilpert said. "It would only overturn the statewide law. So, our law would still be in place."
The law becomes effective in January 2023.
"The challenge for policymakers is that lawmakers may be willing to give up revenue if it yields the benefit of reduced smoking and a better public health outcome but these bans, especially at the city level, are likely to yield lower tax revenue and greater inconvenience to smokers without a significant benefit in terms of smoking cessation," said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects with the Tax Foundation.
"Some consumers will go to other tax tobacco products, some will purchase elsewhere and then a small number may actually quit, but based on existing evidence, that's not really what we're seeing happen," he said.
If a federal flavor ban is imposed, California could stand to lose as much as $330 million in annual revenue, according to Tax Foundation data.