No to menthol ban
Smoking kills. It poisons you from the inside out. It hurts those around you — your children, your partner. Decades of aggressive marketing and disinformation helped fuel an addiction that is all too easy to start, and all too hard to shake.
It’s strange to be defending the sale of anything as hazardous as a cigarette. But a proposed state ban on menthol tobacco won’t solve the problems advocates seek to solve — and could compound a host of other problems.
Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to ban menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco and raise the cigarette tax by $1 per pack. Flavors make cigarettes more attractive to youth, and menthol in particular soothes harshness, making it easier to start smoking. And after decades of targeted marketing in the Black community, African Americans are much more likely to smoke menthols than Americans of other races or ethnicities, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 85 percent of African American smokers use menthols, compared with 30 percent of white smokers.
Here’s what that means: A ban on menthol cigarettes would criminalize a product popular with Black Americans, while the product preferred by white Americans would stay legal. That’s discriminatory, and it’s hypocritical.
The hypocrisy goes deeper. Consider that this action comes during New York’s rollout of recreational cannabis — including allowing flavored marijuana products. That makes no sense. And when California passed its flavor ban, it included carveouts for hookah lounges and premium cigars — again, making one consumer’s smoke legal and another’s illegal. There have been complaints about hookahs being covered in New York’s bill, too.
Prohibition tends to be bad policy. It erodes respect for law, it creates avenues for uneven or biased enforcement, and — most important — it does not work. America has known that since the 1920s. The legalization of cannabis sprung from an understanding that prohibition is a dead end.
Supporters note that the proposal would ban menthols’ sale, not their use, and that the Health Department would be responsible for enforcement. But if sales move from bodegas to street corners, that’s very much in the police’s purview — and criminalization could give police a reason to stop menthol smokers and ask them where they got their cigarette.
That’s why a number of law enforcement groups have come out against a menthol ban, warning it will lead to more unnecessary police encounters. Eric Garner died in a chokehold after he was stopped for selling loose cigarettes.
So is that where we’re stuck — either a discriminatory ban or a blind eye for smoking ’s effects in the Black community, where the CDC notes that menthols contribute to health disparities?
Not at all. Pair a rejection of this ban with meaningful investment in smoking cessation.
The American Cancer Society has for years criticized New York state for underfunding anti-smoking initiatives. A recent NYPIRG report does the same: From the more than $46 billion in taxes, fees and settlement funds the state has received since 1999, it has given just $1 billion for tobacco control. That’s beyond shameful; it’s negligent.
A 2021 American Cancer Society review concluded that best practices for curbing tobacco use and lessening health disparities include targeted cessation programs and raising the price of cigarettes.
Our cigarette tax hasn’t increased in 13 years. We encourage lawmakers to keep that part of Ms. Hochul’s proposal — raising the price per pack — and put all of it into cessation programs. That’s a better, more sustainable way to build a healthier New York.