Minnesota Students and School Staff Push to End Flavoured Tobacco Sales

USA: Students and staff from Minnesota schools recently called on lawmakers to end all flavoured tobacco sales in the state. The proposed bill, SF2123/HF2177, has stalled despite the fact that flavoured tobacco use continues to be a pressing issue in the state.

Over 75 per cent of 8th and 11th graders who use tobacco in Minnesota report using flavoured products, according to the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey.

The survey also revealed that flavours are driving the state’s youth tobacco crisis, with experts warning that tobacco use sets kids up for a lifetime of nicotine addiction and serious health conditions.

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Youth Tobacco Use a Significant Problem

During a news conference, students and staff shared how youth tobacco use, particularly vaping, remains a significant problem in Minnesota schools.

A comprehensive flavour policy, they claim, would prevent youth addiction and alleviate the crisis of addiction seen in middle and high schools throughout Minnesota. The bill proposes ending the sale of all flavoured tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, flavoured cigars, e-cigarettes, hookah, and smokeless tobacco.

The proposed bill’s lead authors, Senate President Bobby Joe Champion and Representative Ethan Cha, and its bipartisan supporters were thanked by Bethlehem Yewhalawork, a program manager at NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, who emphasized the flavoured tobacco policy would prevent youth addiction and improve health for all Minnesotans.

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“We’re asking lawmakers to stay focused on one of the top health problems affecting our kids: tobacco use,” said Yewhalawork. “Passing a comprehensive flavour policy will prevent youth addiction and improve health for all Minnesotans.”

The bill’s supporters are now urging lawmakers to act swiftly and end flavoured tobacco sales in Minnesota.

Flavours Key to Smoking Habit

Colleen O’Neil, a Chemical Health Prevention Specialist at Mounds View School District, revealed that nearly all the students she sees are using flavoured e-cigarettes and that most students would not use tobacco if the nicotine was not flavoured.

“Nearly all the students I see are using flavoured e-cigarettes. Most students say they probably would not use tobacco if the nicotine was not flavoured,” said O’Neil.

“School administrators and support staff throughout Minnesota are stretched thin and are challenged to meet the needs of our students on both an education and emotional level. We are doing everything we can to help students overcome immense challenges and to get off the ‘wheel’ of addiction.”

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She believes that if flavours were eliminated, fewer kids would begin to vape and more kids would be encouraged to quit.

The state of Minnesota has already shown its readiness to end flavoured tobacco sales, with a quarter of the state’s population already covered by 28 local policies restricting sales of flavored and/or menthol tobacco products.

A January 2023 poll found that 62 per cent of Minnesota residents support the proposed bill to end the sale of all flavoured tobacco products, including fruit, mint, and candy-flavoured e-cigarettes, menthol-flavoured cigarettes, flavoured hookah tobacco, and flavoured chewing tobacco.

Meanwhile, 33 per cent oppose the policy. Among African American respondents, 68 per cent support the policy to end flavoured tobacco sales.