Go after youth vaping, but not Loveland stores
My family moved to Loveland decades ago from places throughout the United States and overseas because they saw the promise of America in Loveland. We learned American values such as self-sacrifice, work ethic, kindness, and entrepreneurship from our parents and our grandparents. Their sacrifices have made us successful.
Today, my family and I own and operate the Broadmoor Heights convenience store in Loveland. Our customers and our employees have become our family. We work seven days a week so that our children and grandchildren will operate our business one day. Like you, our families are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. But in the end, we are all proud to live and work in Loveland.
During the last two years, the Loveland City Council has been debating an important public policy that could negatively impact the livelihood of our store, approximately 100 other stores in Loveland, and thousands of our loyal customers. The council has been discussing the idea of banning flavored vaping and flavored tobacco products that we strictly only sell to adults. Anyone that sells flavored vaping or tobacco products to youths should be punished to the full extent the law. We have no tolerance for scofflaws.
Ever y day in our store, we see adults use flavored vaping and related products to quit smoking more harmful cigarettes. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 4.6 million adults in the United States (and thousands of adult Coloradans) have used vaping products to quit smoking more harmful cigarettes. Over 95% of adults prefer to purchase flavored vaping and flavored tobacco products from our stores because the flavors help them forget the disgusting smell of cigarette smoke.
We all have had family members who have tried to quit smoking cigarettes only to begin smoking again. A recent study from Yale University concluded that quitting cigarettes is harder than quitting heroin because cigarettes are so addictive. Did you know that a single cigarette contains over 7,000 chemicals? Approximately 69 of these chemicals are proven carcinogens. Vaping products only contain approximately 12 chemicals and do not have charcoal or tar — the two main ingredients that kill thousands of Americans annually with cancer, heart disease or related illnesses. Vaping products have nicotine but we sell flavored vaping and flavored tobacco products with much lower levels of nicotine.
During the last two years, both the federal and Colorado state governments passed over a dozen laws and regulations to reduce youth vaping. These new regulations are working. As a result, according to the CDC, youth vaping has reduced 33% each year during the last two years.
For example, the voters of the State of Colorado increased taxes 62% to reduce youth vaping. The state of Colorado also created a state licensing and enforcement system for stores to prevent minors from purchasing vaping products, increased the number of inspections at stores, raised the age to 21 to purchase vaping products at the federal and state level (Loveland should follow suit), banned new retail vaping stores from existing within 500 feet of schools, and restricted advertising for vaping products. We support all of these new laws and regulations.
If the city of Loveland bans flavored vaping or tobacco products, thousands of responsible adult consumers will shop elsewhere which will cost the city of Loveland thousands of sales tax dollars and put my business at a competitive disadvantage.
Many of our adult customers have tried the nicotine patch or gum and pharmaceutical drugs to quit smoking cigarettes and they all have failed. However, many of our adult customers have successfully used flavored vaping products to quit smoking cigarettes.
On April 20, 2021, we urge the Loveland City Council to implement what 28 other Colorado municipalities have done to reduce youth vaping: raise the age to 21, require strict licensing for ever y store that sells tobacco or nicotine products, institute stiff fines for any store that sells vaping products to a minor, and only allow flavored vaping products to be sold in agerestricted stores or behind a locked counter that requires employee assistance and an ID check.