7 Dec 29th, 2022–Jan 4th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | From the year before the ban was enacted to the year after, Massachusetts saw a massive spike in the number of packs of cigarettes sold. The state saw an increase of 15.6 million non-menthol packs sold, yet that wasn’t enough to make up for the loss in revenue from vapes and other nicotine products, and its economy took a $125 million hit, the study found. Basically, the ban in Massachusetts turned more residents onto the more dangerous traditional cigarette while removing dollars from the local economy. Rich concluded that “prohibitions on flavored tobacco sales are far less effective when bordering states and counties provide access to prohibited products.” He added that “tobacco flavor bans may lead to net increases in tobacco sales.” A report from the Illegal Tobacco Task Force in Massachusetts showed that state police seized more than 213,000 illegal vapes in 2021. Yale University’s Abigail Freeman published her own study on the compre- hensive flavor ban in San Francisco, and she found that youth within the city had double the odds of smoking cigarettes compared with those living in a city with no flavor ban. “Prohibition doesn’t end tobacco use,” Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom at the Reason Foundation, told New Times. “It simply ends the legal sale of these prod- ucts to adults.” Trish Hart of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance spoke at the December 8 meeting and argued that retailers of age- restricted products in Tempe take the responsibility of selling these products very seriously. She’s not aware of anyone in Tempe who would sell flavored nicotine products to minors, which is already a crime. “Prohibition simply does not work,” Hart said. Black (and Mild) Market While stocking up on vapes in Tempe’s neighboring localities is an easy task for most, many who spoke against the proposed ordinance worry it will create a black market for tasty nicotine products in Tempe. Ted Kaercher, owner of HQ Smoke & Vape in Tempe, has been selling nicotine products in the city for 33 years. He’s a vocal advocate for quashing the proposed ban and suggests on his website that the Tempe City Council members are angry “Karens.” “Making it illegal just leads to a black market,” Kaercher said. “They’re not going to sell a quality product. It will be an unregulated, unsafe product. Just like the bans on alcohol and marijuana.” Even the conservative Arizona Border Security Alliance, a Phoenix-based group focused on illegal immigration, rejects the proposed ban on flavored tobacco. The coalition’s president, Joe Dickinson, said the ban will only serve to foster a black market and further criminalize children. “What prohibition brings is an illicit market of unregulated products,” Dickinson said. “It’s now approved by the FDA. You can say goodbye to that.” In her interview with New Times, Garlid said that opponents of the ban, including Kaercher and Dickinson, made a fair point. “We are concerned about the black market for these products,” she said. “However, we know that young people are too easily getting these products from stores.” She did not provide evidence of any smoke shop in Tempe selling nicotine products to minors. Next Steps Tempe officials wouldn’t allow a group of Arab residents to bring homemade letter- size signs reading “adults like flavors too” into the December 8 meeting. But they did admit children wearing glittery t-shirts that advertised, “flavors hook kids.” Three children, who appeared to be speaking at the urging of their concerned parents, comprised most of the small group that voiced support of the proposed ban during the two meetings in early December. Malaya McCorvey-Wile, a sophomore at Desert Vista High School, said that any time she enters her school’s restroom, “a student is vaping tobacco in a stall.” “I do not want to see my generation die to this terrible addiction,” McCorvey-Wile said. The Tempe City Council tabled further action on the proposed ban until a January 12 meeting. The public is welcome to voice concerns at that meeting, although “the chances of a vote happening in January are very low,” Harrelson said. A tentative council meeting is slated for February 23, and “after that meeting, the proposed ordinance could be scheduled for a first and second hearing and vote by the council,” Garlid said. | NEWS | Blanks from p 4 Flavored nicotine products are the target of a proposed ordinance in Tempe. Spencer Platt / Getty Images
