Detroit City Council urges Michigan to give cities more control over tobacco, ban flavors

Detroit City Council is urging state lawmakers to end the sale of flavored tobacco and allow municipalities to control local tobacco laws.

Councilman Scott Benson proposed repealing Section 14 of the Tobacco Products Tax Act to bolster local control over policies related to selling and granting licenses to distribute tobacco. The law currently restricts cities from imposing new requirements or forbidding sales and licenses for distribution purposes. Benson stressed that tobacco, specifically flavored products like vapes, is targeting Black Detroiters and youths.

"Tobacco is a horrendous substance that takes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans every year," Benson said donning a "Flavors Target Kids" shirt during Tuesday's council meeting. "It kills over 45,000 Black Americans annually, which would be about the size of Ford Field full of Black people dying immediately because they smoked tobacco. The tobacco industry is a dying industry and it needs to refill its users. The way you do that is by growing that from the youth, and how you grow it from the youth is having flavored tobacco."

The resolution, which council members approved on Tuesday, asks for Michigan to ban flavored tobacco and remove the preemption from cities regulating flavored tobacco within their borders. Ending the sale of flavored tobacco would "significantly reduce the new generation of tobacco users, lower health care costs, and ensure an equitable approach to health," according to the resolution.

Council President Pro-Tem James Tate and Councilmember Coleman Young II had reservations about how it would be enforced and whether the move would infringe on adults' rights to make their own decisions but the two voted in favor of the resolution.

"I think this should be a local government discussion. I agree with the latter part of this legislation ... that we should repeal the preemption law and allow local units of government to have this debate," Young said. "But I just think that we have to be very careful. How is it implemented? How is it used? And who's going to be impacted by it the most?"

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Tate, who spearheaded efforts to kick off Detroit's recreational cannabis industry, said officials need to identify where underage individuals are obtaining products.

"Part of the cannabis ordinance allows for adult use, and vapes are part of it, in addition to the smoking of the flower. I know that I would certainly not be in support of removing those types of vapes and flowers from the availability for those who are of legal age making those decisions, whether good decisions or not, but their decisions," Tate said. "I think grown folks should be able to do what grown folks do as long as it's not illegal and hurting anybody else. And repercussions will come as they may."

Councilwoman Latisha Johnson's concern draws from Detroit's growing asthma rates and the negative impacts on residents' lungs from other environmental factors.

"I do believe that these flavors are enticing our young people and encouraging them to smoke these vape pens in particular. I'm not sure how many packs of cigarettes one vape pen is equal to, but we know that there is also an increase in lung cancer as a result of these vape pens in particular," Johnson said.

Several attendees, such as Dr. Teresa Holtrop, who spoke during public comment, supported the resolution. Holtrop said the tobacco industry targeted children, particularly with vaping products with flavors such as watermelon and bubble gum.

"This is an important step to take in order to protect our children, as we all want them to grow up to become productive members of society that are not going to die early," Holtrop said.

Minou Jones, chair of the Detroit Wayne Oakland Tobacco-Free Coalition, said she supports the move especially after losing her father, Reginald Trent, to tobacco-related illness, Jones said.

"Make no mistake, it is the No. 1 killer of African Americans," Jones said. "If you care about Black lives, care about Black lungs. Protect our children by banning menthol and all flavored tobacco products," Jones said.

City Council was also expected to vote on a resolution establishing gun-free zones in certain parts of the city but referred the issue to the public health and safety standing committee.

Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact Dana: dafana@freepress.com or 313-635-3491. Follow her on Twitter: @DanaAfana.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City Council asks state to give cities control over tobacco