Ban on flavored tobacco hurts consumers

By Joseph Laughon

One of the many flawed assumptions of California’s ban on flavored tobacco is that adult consumers aren't the primary users of these products, and these products are used to attract underage consumers. 

While underage use of tobacco products is a serious issue, research shows that “flavored tobacco products were widely used by US adults.” Adult consumers should be able to legally purchase tobacco products, including flavored products, if they so choose. This is especially true given that some of these flavored products are key tobacco harm reduction products like tobacco-free nicotine pouches, that could lead to much healthier outcomes for Californian smokers. 

Understandably, there has been strong opposition to the recently passed flavor ban, with an organization recently submitting over a million petition signatures from registered voters who oppose the ban. If these signatures are approved, or at least the 623,212 signatures required to get a referendum on the ballot, voters will have the opportunity to either support or oppose the new policy on election day in 2022.

As we await the results from the petition process, California’s Assembly and Senate will return to session and legislators have an opportunity to correct the wrongs of their previous session by passing legislation to undo the overreaching flavor ban. While we could hope that elected officials would realize their mistake naturally, it is incumbent upon those who support legal adults’ ability to purchase these products to write into their elected officials to make sure they know that the flavor ban is the wrong approach to prevent teens’ tobacco consumption. 

It is already illegal for minors to buy tobacco products, and California’s time and tax dollars would be better spent on enforcing existing laws, as opposed to limiting the choices for legal adults. The minimum age of purchasing tobacco products is 21, which research shows limits tobacco consumption by minors. Additionally, there has already been a commonsense flavor ban regulation implemented on the national level that limits the sale of flavored vaping products. These efforts have proven to be effective at reducing teen vaping when you look at the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which showed that one million fewer teens reported vaping when compared to 2019. 

These are commonsense solutions to address underage tobacco use, but a full flavor ban is more likely to hurt legal smokers, as well as those who are looking for harm reduction products. Many smokers have turned to flavored vaping products to break their dependence on cigarettes. Nicotine pouches, for example, are smoking cessation products that women prefer. We can all agree any effort to transition from traditional tobacco products to those that reduce harm to the consumer should be supported. 

If this ban goes into effect, adult consumers in California still have the option to purchase flavored products because online sales will still be available, but many consumers are unaware of this option. Sites like NicoKick serve as a one-top shop where people can purchase nicotine pouches, and will continue to be accessible for those adults who are looking for flavored nicotine products that help them transition away from cigarettes to a healthier lifestyle.

While this flavor ban issue is unsettled, thankfully adult consumers still have options for now. However, if some in the state legislature have their way, this won’t be the case for long. Those who support the freedom for adults to choose tobacco harm reduction products should staunchly oppose this overreach and urge state legislators to change course.

Joseph Laughon is a former journalist and commentator on public policy issues.