 With the new year, California began enforcement of Prop 31, which prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products.
“Flavored” is clarified to be things such as menthol, mint, fruit, honey, chocolate, and vanilla, and more. This includes grape flavored Backwoods, most Swisher Sweet cigarellos, menthol cigarettes, and perhaps the biggest impact seen in flavored e-cigarettes, or vapes, which are all now banned from legal retail sales in California. There are a few flavored tobacco exceptions, such as hookahs, loose-leaf and pipe tobacco, and also high-dollar cigars. Advocates of the ban claim their motivation is to prevent increased addiction and potential cancer risks in consumers, with a particular emphasis on underage and minority buyers who they feel are being targeted. Lindsey Freitas, of The Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, says tobacco use among California teens had been on the decline until e-cigarettes started being sold. She said, “They started being sold in flavors like grape and cherry and gummy bear. And all of a sudden, we saw our youth tobacco rates increasing again.” Massachusetts was the first state to enact a flavored tobacco ban, back in 2020. And the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is also currently considering a similar national ban on such products. California retailers who are caught breaking the new law will face $250 fines for each violation. And while this sale ban may be bad news for those who love their menthol ciggaretttes or flavored nicotine vapes, the good news for them is that only the sale of these products is prohibited, not the consumption. So if you are able to procure them some other way, you will still legally be able to use them. Comments are closed.
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