Mass. Lawmakers Weigh Ban On Menthol Cigarettes

FDA Examines Menthol Cigarettes, With Possible Ban In Sight — Brenda Wisehart smokes a menthol cigarette in front of a Quick Stop store on March 30, 2010 in Miami, Florida. Today in Washington, DC a public hearing began before a committee of outside experts that advises the Food and Drug Administration as they weigh the evidence of menthol's impact on smokers' use and health. The FDA could eventually ban or phase out the menthol cigarettes that some experts say can be more enticing and possibly addicting than regular cigarettes.

Mike Deehan is a reporter for Axios Boston. He was GBH News' State House reporter from June 2015 to March 2022.

October 31, 2019

Updated November 01, 2019

As Massachusetts is putting together new regulations for the vape industry, Beacon Hill is renewing a years-old conversation about a permanent ban on all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and vape products.

Public health advocates and some lawmakers are pushing hard for new rules on vape products to include a full-out ban on menthol — vapes and combustible cigarettes — which are most popular in communities of color, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The speaker of the House and Senate president say they want to pass a vape regulation bill and flavor ban before lawmakers recess for the holidays, meaning lawmakers have only a few weeks to decide if menthols should survive in Massachusetts. Separate regulations are also pending at the city level.

It's the popularity of the product, which are easier to smoke because of the cooling effect of menthol, that has Rep. Russell Holmes worried and considering signing onto the full ban.

"Unfortunately, somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 percent of the African-American kids that are trying some type of cigarette is a menthol cigarette," Holmes said.

Holmes said vape companies are using the same marketing tactics in black neighborhoods that tobacco companies have used for decades.

"It is targeting people, black people in particular. ... This is clearly you targeting my neighborhood, and I think it has to end," Holmes said.

The owner of Ada's Tropical convenience store outside Codman Square in Dorchester, Corneal Allen, said he would expect a 30 to 40 percent decline in tobacco sales if menthols are banned.

"To come up with a ban now, such as what's is going to be in place with the menthol and the Wintergreen, it's definitely going to put a hurting on small businesses," Allen said.

Allen said consumers in his store coming in for cigarettes often purchase food or other items. He's worried that not being able to offer menthols means more customers will shop for market goods at chains like Walgreens.

"Naturally, if you don't have it, then you're going to lose those sales also," Allen said.

Lawmakers say, though, that the benefits of preventing young people from picking up a nicotine habit outweigh the damage a ban would do to small businesses and the inconvenience to adult smokers.

Rep. Nika Elugardo said she'll support a flavor ban and cigarette restrictions being included in the House's bill to add taxes to, and regulate, vapes.

"When products are harming people and creating public health costs and financial costs to the state that are significant," Elugardo said, "we shouldn't have any problem banning them."