Opinion: Ending Sale of Addictive Flavored Tobacco Here Within Reach

An finish to the sale of flavored tobacco within the metropolis of San Diego is in attain, a lot to the reduction of college districts, youth-serving organizations, well being practitioners, and oldsters. 

The SAAFE Act, launched by Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, will finish the sale of youth-targeted flavored vapes, flavored cigarillos, and menthol cigarettes if adopted. Hookah, premium flavored cigars, flavored loose-leaf tobacco, and non-flavored tobacco merchandise will stay on retailer cabinets.

The San Diego Metropolis Council will take up the ordinance on Monday, April 25, and observers anticipate an lively assembly. 

The native tobacco trade’s lobbying arm, the Neighborhood Market Affiliation, has been vocal in opposition to the ordinance, as candy, fruity and minty flavors work to hook the subsequent technology of tobacco customers. They’ve beforehand cited analysis from a San Francisco examine, falsely indicating that eradicating flavored vapes from the retail setting pushes youth to make use of cigarettes as an alternative. 

Jonathan Winickoff, director of pediatric analysis at Massachusetts Common Hospital’s distinguished Tobacco Analysis & Remedy Heart, reviewed the examine and disagrees. He notes that the examine was accomplished earlier than enforcement of San Francisco’s flavored tobacco ban had taken full impact — solely 17% of shops had been compliant on the time of the examine –- thus invalidating the evaluation.

Winickoff and his colleagues cite knowledge from Oakland that discovered common cigarette use decreased after flavored tobacco restrictions, and much more importantly, level to analysis demonstrating that whole tobacco use by younger individuals aged 18-24 decreased by practically 18% after San Francisco’s flavored tobacco gross sales restrictions. 

Upon inspecting what’s driving increased vaping charges amongst youth, ending the sale of flavored tobacco is smart. Take into account the next info:  

1. Flavors hook children. Younger individuals are naturally drawn to candy, fruity, minty flavors, and when an addictive substance like nicotine is masked in ardour fruit or bitter apple, it’s simpler for them to really feel snug experimenting.
2. The quantity of nicotine in every flavored vaping machine is the equal of 1 to 10 packs of cigarettes. It’s a very concentrated quantity of nicotine in every machine, and a few teenagers vape a complete e-cigarette every day, successfully consuming the identical quantity of nicotine in 20-200 cigarettes.
3. The adolescent mind is extra simply addicted than grownup brains as a result of it’s nonetheless creating. 

These factors underscore why surveys present 4 in 10 highschool college students within the San Diego Unified Faculty District have vaped.

However when policymakers stand with educators and enact insurance policies that shield the psychological and bodily well being of scholars, our younger individuals have a greater probability of resisting the attract of flavored tobacco. The trustees of San Diego Unified, Sweetwater Union, and the San Diego County Board of Training have all handed resolutions in help of the SAAFE Act, asking San Diego and Chula Vista metropolis council members to handle the vaping epidemic sweeping college campuses by ending the sale of flavored tobacco merchandise.  

These elected college board members perceive a easy however highly effective fact grounded in knowledge from the 110 California municipalities with flavored tobacco bans on the books: eradicating factors of entry to tobacco reduces the speed of youth use.

True to kind, the Neighborhood Market Affiliation’s commentary makes a second deceptive declare: when one metropolis ended flavored tobacco gross sales, neighboring cities noticed a rise within the sale of those merchandise. 

Earlier than limiting tobacco purchases to clients over age of 21 grew to become federal regulation, many municipalities adopted this coverage as a neighborhood ordinance. Winickoff studied the consequences of accelerating the tobacco age to 21 in these cities and in contrast them to cities with out the elevated age requirement.

Because the “Tobacco 21” coverage gained nationwide momentum, Large Tobacco lobbyists offered the identical argument that the Neighborhood Market Affiliation is presenting now: Individuals will journey to different cities for tobacco. The analysis exhibits this buyer migration didn’t occur.

Actually, Winickoff and his colleagues discovered that the “Tobacco 21” coverage resulted in a 47% discount in highschool tobacco use, with no indication that youth had been touring to different cities to buy the merchandise.  

Youth are usually not travelling throughout metropolis traces to buy flavored tobacco. Whereas neighboring cities may even see a slight uptick in gross sales, inside the metropolis limits of these municipalities the place flavored tobacco merchandise are banned, youth use drops. 

This actuality validates the rationale of the SAAFE Act to maintain the addictive poison of flavored tobacco merchandise out of our youngsters’ lungs. 

“It’s not rocket science; limiting flavored tobacco gross sales is an efficient technique to stop youth from initiating tobacco product use,” Winickoff mentioned.

However increasing the coverage lens past youth entry exhibits why flavored tobacco bans shield adults, too. It’s a proven fact that e-cigarette use causes irritation in a number of organ programs within the physique. Use additionally will increase anxiousness, impairs studying and reminiscence, and causes extreme lung harm and demise in some circumstances. 

The aim of the SAAFE Act is to guard youth, communities of coloration, faculty college students, LGBTQ+ group members — in a phrase, everybody who’s focused by Large Tobacco’s predatory advertising ways.  

The San Diego Metropolis Council has a possibility to guard our youth and communities from the poisonous brew of flavored nicotine-delivery merchandise.

Large Tobacco and the Neighborhood Market Affiliation might say in any other case, however historical past has proven what’s true: public well being improves when polices are adopted that scale back the hurt attributable to tobacco merchandise.

Who wouldn’t stand with San Diegans to champion wholesome, resilient communities? We’ll discover out when our elected metropolis council representatives solid their votes for or towards the SAAFE Act.

Cynthia Knapp is this system supervisor for the San Diego Smoke-Free Venture, a program of SAY San Diego. Jim Crittenden is coordinator of alcohol, tobacco, and different drug prevention for San Diego County Workplace of Training.