Washington County voters uphold strict flavored nicotine ban

Washington County voters on Tuesday upheld a ban on flavored nicotine merchandise, rejecting by a large margin an try to overturn it spearheaded by comfort retailer chain Plaid Pantry.

The ban, which applies to flavored tobacco, vape and different artificial nicotine merchandise, is essentially the most restrictive within the state.

Washington County commissioners authorised the ban in November, and enforcement was supposed to start out in January. However the county needed to put the brand new regulation on maintain after Plaid Pantry Chief Government Officer Jonathan Polonsky gathered sufficient signatures to place the ban on the poll, leading to Measure 34-314. Preliminary outcomes as of 8:10 p.m. confirmed 77% of Washington County voters rejecting the measure and simply 23% voting to approve it.

OREGON PRIMARY 2022: Reside Outcomes Web page | Election web page

The marketing campaign to overturn the ban was initially funded by about $60,000 in donations from tobacco corporations. However that effort fizzled quickly after Polonsky’s group, dubbed No on 878, ran a ballot on Washington County voters’ positions. The title of the group refers back to the ordinance commissioners handed in 2021.

Polonsky mentioned he realized the poll measure language was complicated, as a result of folks won’t perceive that voting for the measure meant voting in opposition to the ban. As an alternative of continuous to marketing campaign, he determined to problem the measure language in Washington County Circuit Courtroom. That problem was dismissed final week.

The group campaigning for the ban and in opposition to the measure, Flavors Hook Oregon Youngsters, outraised the anti-ban group by almost 12-to-1. Most of that was donated by Tobacco-Free Youngsters Motion Fund, a nationwide group working to scale back tobacco use.

Washington County’s flavored nicotine ban is the newest instance of efforts in Oregon to sharply curtail nicotine and tobacco use. In 2021, the state put a considerable tax on vaping merchandise and, as of this yr, requires all nicotine retailers to be licensed. Earlier than the pandemic, Multnomah County commissioners mentioned instituting the same ban.

— Fedor Zarkhin