In Oakland, flavored tobacco is over

In California, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday, May 12, to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, in all tobacco shops and places where these products are sold. This vote ends an exemption obtained in 2017 by tobacco retailers, which previously authorized the sale of flavored tobacco in "adult-only" tobacco stores. This exception, however, had the effect of a pull factor: at the time of the vote in 2017, between two and five of these adult-only stores existed in Oakland, compared to 56 in February 2020, effectively undermining the effectiveness of the measure and demonstrating the need for coherent and rigorous legislation to prevent circumvention strategies by the tobacco industry. Indeed, according to city officials, some of these "adult-only" stores were traditional tobacco shops before the flavored tobacco ban. They simply added an "adult-only" area so they could continue selling tobacco products after the City Council passed the flavored tobacco ban. Another factor driving the ban's expansion was that most adult-only stores are located in the city's lower-income neighborhoods, making flavored tobacco products more accessible to disadvantaged groups and minorities, thus reinforcing health inequalities. In addition to banning the sale of flavored tobacco, the Oakland City Council banned the remote purchase of tobacco products and now imposes minimum size and price requirements for cigars, cigarillos, and cigarettes to reduce prevalence among the most disadvantaged populations, vulnerable targets of the tobacco industry. The inclusion of menthol in the ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products is an important decision: it has regularly benefited from a free pass, the result of intense lobbying by the tobacco industry, and is leading to a real health disaster for young people, women, and minorities. ©Generation Without Tobacco

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“Oakland Bans Sale Of Flavored, Menthol Tobacco Products In Tobacco Stores, Pharmacies”, May 12, 2020 https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/05/12/oakland-bans-sale-of-flavored-menthol-tobacco-products-in-tobacco-stores-pharmacies/ ©National Committee Against Smoking |