In California, the Oakland City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, May 12, to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, in all tobacco stores and places where these products are sold.<\/p>\n
This vote ends an exemption obtained in 2017 by tobacco retailers, which until then authorized the sale of flavored tobacco in tobacco stores "reserved for adults."<\/p>\n
This exception, however, had the effect of a suction effect: 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 to adopt coherent and rigorous legislation to avoid circumvention strategies on the part of the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n
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 once the flavored tobacco restriction was passed by the City Council.<\/p>\n
Another factor that motivated the expansion of the ban was that most adult-only stores are located in the city's working-class neighborhoods, making flavored tobacco products more accessible to disadvantaged groups and minorities, thus reinforcing health inequalities.<\/p>\n
In addition to banning the sale of flavored tobacco, the Oakland City Council has banned the remote purchase of tobacco products and now imposes a minimum size and price for cigars, cigarillos, and cigarettes to reduce prevalence among the poorest populations, vulnerable targets of the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u00a9Generation Without Tobacco<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOakland Bans Sale Of Flavored, Menthol Tobacco Products In Tobacco Stores, Pharmacies\u201d, May 12, 2020<\/p>\n
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