Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday passed a ban on the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, making the state the first in the nation to approve such wide-ranging legislation.
The legislation also would place a 75% excise tax on vaping products and expand health care coverage for tobacco-use cessation products and counseling.
“Massachusetts moved quickly to act on behalf of the children of the Commonwealth to modernize our laws that regulate tobacco. This bill bans all flavored tobacco and makes it easier for people to access the tools they need to quit tobacco use,” House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Democrat, said in a written statement. “This nation-leading step will save lives.”
State Sen. John Keenan, a Democrat and a lead cosponsor of the bill’s flavored-product ban, said the tobacco industry’s business model aims to create lifelong customers by hooking them at a young age.
He said the federal government moved to ban flavored cigarettes in 2009 because flavors like cherry and chocolate targeted youth. However, due to industry push back, the federal ban excluded menthol.
“With this bill, we address all flavors, for all tobacco products, so that generations to come will not be lured in by the industry,” Mr. Keenan said. “With this first-in-the-nation bill, we are telling Big Tobacco their days of targeting young people in Massachusetts are over.”
Early Thursday, the Massachusetts House and Senate finalized the legislation and sent it to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk.
Mr. Baker, a Republican, hasn’t indicated whether he will sign the ban, but he had declared a public health emergency in his state and ordered a temporary ban on the sales of all vaping products in September.
Terry MacCormack, the governor’s deputy communications director, told The Washington Times that Mr. Baker will review the final legislation.
Multiple advocacy groups applauded the state’s sweeping ban Thursday.
“By ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products including e-cigarettes, Massachusetts is protecting its youth from a lifetime of nicotine addiction and tobacco related illnesses,” said Harold Wimmer, CEO and national president of the American Lung Association. “Absent strong action from the federal government, we urge states and localities to follow Massachusetts’ lead.”
The state ban comes amid reports that President Trump is reversing course on a proposed federal ban of flavored e-cigarettes announced in September due to pressure from lobbyists and fear of job losses.
The legislation immediately would ban the sale of flavored vaping products and outlaw the sales of menthol e-cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products, like smokeless tobacco and cigars, starting June 1.
“The Massachusetts action provides a major boost for the growing national movement to end the sale of flavored tobacco products,” Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement.
“Today’s action is urgently needed,” he said. “Flavored products have long been a favorite tobacco industry strategy for targeting kids.”
About 27% of high school students reported using e-cigarettes during the last month, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Of high school e-cigarette users, 64% reported using menthol or mint flavored products, the second most used flavor after fruit (66%).
Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, called Massachusetts’ ban a “dual assault” on public health and small businesses.
“Since Governor Baker’s blanket ban on vaping products in September, we have seen cigarette sales in Massachusetts decline much slower than the national average. Former smokers are migrating back to cigarettes from safer vaping products and small businesses that previously employed nearly 1,000 people are rapidly shuttering for good,” Mr. Conley said.
Tony Abboud, executive director of Vapor Technology Association, said he is greatly disappointed with the decision of Massachusetts’ legislators.
“Bans don’t work. They never have, and in fact this ban will drive many of Massachusetts’ citizens back to combustible cigarettes, the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States,” Mr. Abboud said.
Mr. Baker has 10 days to sign the bill.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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