TAKING AIM AT NICOTINE SALES
City wants state to give it more control at stopping youth sales
The Royal Oak City Commission this week unanimously supported several state Senate bills to give municipalities greater power to regulate illegal sales of tobacco and nicotine products to children under 18.
Collectively known as the Protect MI Kids Bill package, the legislation covers five main areas affecting the sale and regulation of nicotine-containing products from tobacco to devices for vaping.
The bill would allow local governments to draft ordinances around the sales and use of nicotine products; introduce taxes on vapes; and ban the sale of flavored tobacco.
It would further require all tobacco retailers to be licensed — giving communities leverage against those selling to minors — and focus on nicotine-use prevention while eliminating penalties against minors for buying or using nicotine products.
City Commissioner Brandon Kolo said nicotine product retailers are currently overseen only by the state’s department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
Communities are allowed only to issue a civil infraction ticket to a minor for purchasing those products, or a misdemeanor ticket to a clerk who sells tobacco or vaping devices to a minor.
Royal Oak has conducted sting operations and knows there are a number of nicotine retailers “who are bad actors,” and routinely sell to minors, Kolo said.
“We can give tickets to kids,” he said. “But punishing these children who’ve been preyed upon is not the solution. This (pending) bill will allow us to regulate the sale of tobacco in our city and if we have a retailer illegally selling to minors we can shut them down.”
Royal Oak city commissioners became aware of the pending legislation recently after Kolo and some other commissioners attended a Michigan Municipal League (MML) convention.
The MML is a nonprofit advocacy group for over 500 cities, townships and villages statewide.
Kolo sponsored the resolution the City Commission approved this week.
“Michigan is one of the least tobacco-regulated states in the country,” he said. “Because of that we also have an astronomically high rate of kids using tobacco, along with healthcare costs associated with the treatment of tobacco-related illnesses.”
Michigan is in the top 12 states in the nation for tobacco use overall.
Royal Oak Schools about six years ago saw a major rise in the number of students using vape devices at the high school. At the request of the district, the city amended its tobacco ordinance to include e-cigarette use or possession by minors.
That amendment made it a civil infraction for minors to have or use vaping products. Violations carry a $25 fine. Kolo said 90 percent of students who smoke in high school use flavored e-cigarettes.
Though some school officials recently said the vaping problem among students is not as bad or flagrant as it was earlier, Kolo said there was still an impact as of last year.
“The high school has only one bathroom open at any given time,” he said, “because they have so many issues with vaping and smoke in the building. They don’t have a way to combat this and they are having a hard time.”
Pending state Senate bills in the Protect MI Kids bill package would allow for more local control of the retailers who sell nicotine products to children.
Nationwide, 10 percent of
“The reason the law is like it is in Michigan is because of effective lobbying by the tobacco industry. … I feel like here we can make a statement against the effectiveness of tobacco lobbying and say we really need power in our community to protect our kids from this addiction.”
— City Commissioner Rebecca Cheezum
middle and high school students reported some form of tobacco product use, with e-cigarettes being the most popular, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Use of vaping among school students remains a cause for concern for educators, parents and prevention groups such as the Royal Oak Community Coalition (ROCC), a nonprofit that works to curb illegal access and reduce the use of nicotine, and other drugs, among youth.
“Vaping is everywhere,” Melissa Morris, ROCC executive director, told the Tribune last month. “In Royal Oak it is at the high school, the middle school, and even some kids in the elementary schools are starting to vape.”
Speaking about the resolution approved this week, City Commissioner Rebecca Cheezum singled out the tobacco industry as a force against changing tobacco laws in the state.
“The reason the law is like it is in Michigan is because of effective lobbying by the tobacco industry,” Cheezum said at the City Commission meeting. “And why do they lobby? To create more customers … I feel like here we can make a statement against the effectiveness of tobacco lobbying and say we really need power in our community to protect our kids from this addiction.”