In January, the Vermont House Human Services Committee voted to advance S.18, a much-needed bill to end the sale of flavored tobacco products that are hooking our kids! The full House of Representatives could vote on it soon, and they need to hear from you. Let's make sure the House does the right thing and puts our kids' health above Big Tobacco's profits!
Please pass S.18, the bill to end the sale of flavored tobacco products. A new poll shows that 68% of Vermonters support the bill – and support comes from across the political spectrum and every area of the state.
Flavored products are fueling the youth nicotine addiction crisis in Vermont. Products like candy-flavored e-cigarettes, minty menthol cigarettes, and dessert-flavored cigarillos are "starter products" that the tobacco industry uses to lure kids, plain and simple. Big Tobacco's long history of using racial marketing to target Black communities with menthol cigarettes is particularly appalling.
Importantly, S.18 does not criminalize the use or possession of these products and would only be enforced by health departments and only against licensed retailers, not individuals.
The facts are clear:
- 81% of youth who have used tobacco started with a flavored product.
- Over 2.1 million kids use e-cigarettes, and the vast majority of them say flavors are the reason they do it.
- Half of high school smokers started with menthol cigarettes, which are easier for kids to start using and harder for smokers to quit.
- Due to heavy tobacco industry targeting, 85% of Black smokers now use menthol cigarettes. This has had devastating health impacts on Black communities.
- Cigars – which come in hundreds of sweet flavors – are especially popular among Black and Hispanic youth.
But we can stop this in Vermont – and join the growing number of communities in the Northeast and across the country that have ended the sale of flavored tobacco products.
By a more than 2-to-1 margin, Vermont voters agree that ending the sale of flavored tobacco products is a good idea because flavored tobacco lures kids (66%) – versus just 28% of voters saying it is a bad idea because it interferes with adults' freedom to purchase tobacco in the flavors of their choice.
Please do everything you can to advance S.18 and ensure it passes without delay.
