Plan to ban all sales of flavored tobacco flawed | Opinion

Cincinnati City Councilwoman Victoria Parks recently told a local news station that she is considering a ban on the sales of all flavored tobacco. As a tobacco retailer, I’m torn.

On one hand, Parks is 100% accurate that we must go after companies targeting youth with egregious flavored e-cigarettes. On the other hand, we must take a reasonable approach as it relates to menthol cigarettes, wintergreen dip, and pipe tobacco that do not appeal to kids but are preferred by my adult tobacco customers.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump enacted rules prohibiting the sale of flavored pod-based vapor products in flavors other than menthol and tobacco. He did so in response to rising youth usage of products like Juul. Unfortunately, a loophole in the legislation left open the door to the sales of flavored disposable e-cigarettes. Since then, we’ve seen Chinese disposable vapes flood the market. They come in flavors like Fanta Strawberry, White Gummy, and Tropical Rainbow Blast and are clearly targeted at Cincinnati youth.

I commend Parks on her efforts to remove these products from Cincinnati store shelves. In fact, these products are already illegal but due to bureaucratic red tape, the FDA is failing our youth by not enforcing existing laws. And this is where City Council can make a difference. Passing a citywide flavored vapor ban ensures that local leaders can do what the FDA can’t − protect our kids.

The problem with well-intentioned proposals like the one by Parks is that despite the focus on one segment of a broad industry − vapes − city leaders are casting a ridiculously wide net that will ban products that have no youth appeal, like menthol cigarettes and wintergreen snuff and pipe tobacco. According to the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Study, only 1% of Ohio high school students smoke cigarettes on a daily basis. The same study found only 0.8% use smokeless tobacco like dip and snus daily. Compared to the 20% who use vapes, the issue is about stopping the influx of illegal disposable vapor products.

Ninety-nine percent of Ohio’s high schoolers say they don’t smoke, yet a flavored tobacco ban would stop retailers like me from selling menthol cigarettes and flavored snus to adults who choose to smoke and dip. Convenience Store News estimates that nearly 32% of all in-store sales at convenience stores come from tobacco. Additionally, menthol cigarettes alone make up 37% of that volume. I cannot think of a business that could survive losing more than a third of its largest category. Local businesses like mine will be forced to close. I truly hope Parks can work with local law-abiding retailers like me to ensure her proposal reflects the facts above.

Banning menthol cigarettes in Cincinnati will also have no impact on adult or youth usage of these products. We are all keenly aware that Covington and Newport are just a short drive away. My competitors across the bridge are already advantaged by a 50 cents per pack difference in state excise taxes. Add another significant disadvantage like my ability to sell legal products like menthol cigarettes and wintergreen snuff, and I cannot imagine why anyone would ever stop at my store.

We must solve the issue in front of us, youth usage of illegal disposable products. Anything more is simply shifting business away from law-abiding retail shops like mine to unscrupulous profiteers from across our U.S. borders. More than anything, I want to be part of the solution, and I hope Councilwoman Parks understands that compromise between the business community and health advocates is the only way to keep Ohio’s economy strong while still protecting our most valuable asset, the next generation of Cincinnati leaders.

George Zerfu has been a resident of Cincinnati since 2017 and is the owner of Reading Shell.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Plan to ban all sales of flavored tobacco flawed | Opinion