Bexley City Council delays vote on banning flavored tobacco products
When Bexley City Council reconvenes Jan. 10, it is expected to vote on an ordinance that would ban all flavored tobacco products, e-cigarettes and other “alternate nicotine products” from being sold in the city.
If the ordinance is approved, Bexley would follow similar action by Columbus City Council, which voted Dec. 12 to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
While Bexley may follow Columbus’ lead if the ordinance is approved, Bexley previously led the state in placing restrictions on the sale of tobacco products, according to the ordinance.
“The city of Bexley has historically been a leader in anti-smoking efforts,” the ordinance states, “being the first community in the state of Ohio to enact an indoor smoking ban; one of the first central Ohio communities to ban the sale of smoking products to persons under the age of 21; and the first to ban flavored vaping products.”
The purpose of the ordinance is to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol products, which are not restricted under Bexley’s existing legislation, council member Jen Robinson said.
“When we originally brought the ordinance for consideration to council, I wanted menthol to be included and that was the one concession we had to make,” she said. “We have shown in Bexley that we really care about this issue, and we care about the health and safety of all of our residents - in particular, our kids.”
In a presentation at council’s second reading of the ordinance Dec. 6, Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation representatives Dr. Robert Crane and Amanda Turner advocated for the approval of the legislation and spoke about the regional effort to prohibit the sale of flavored smoking products, which they said are marketed aggressively to youths and minority populations.
“What we know in Ohio is that 50 percent of high school students have tried e-cigarettes,” Turner said. “Thirty percent of (high school) students use e-cigarettes. What’s more concerning is, 12 percent of these middle-schoolers are using e-cigarettes, as well.”
An e-cigarette looks like a thumb drive, Crane said.
“You can hide it in algebra class,” he said. “It’s kids giving it to kids - ‘It tastes like strawberries, try it.’”
Crane and Turner said if Bexley approves the ordinance, Franklin County Public Health will handle enforcement, which the agency also is undertaking in Columbus and other neighboring communities that are considering similar legislation.
The fact that central Ohio communities are joining together in the effort to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products will make enforcement more effective, council member Lori Ann Feibel said.
When Bexley passed its existing legislation against selling flavored tobacco products, “one of the things that people kept saying to us is, ‘Well, that’s great, but they can just walk down the street.’ And they can,” Feibel said. “They literally can walk down the street to get (flavored tobacco products).”
Mayor Ben Kessler said the Central Ohio Mayors and Managers Association is participating in the effort to ban flavored tobacco products.
“I know that we’ve been coordinating with city managers and mayors throughout central Ohio,” he said. “There are many other cities that are signed up to (do) this. Some cities are resisting and aren’t really into it, but I think, overall, there seems to be good regional buy-in.”
City Council’s third reading of the ordinance was scheduled for Dec. 13, but at council member Sam Marcellino’s suggestion, members voted to table the legislation until their first meeting in 2023.
Marcellino said he would like to take more time to answer any questions fellow council members may have about the legislation.
Marcellino said he also is considering strengthening penalties for retailers that violate the law, which range from a $500 fine for a first violation to a $1,000 fine, a one-year suspension of the store’s tobacco retail license and a ban on distributing tobacco products for three years.
“There are some legal questions that I think we need to work through,” he said.
@ThisWeekNews
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Bexley City Council delays vote on banning flavored tobacco products
