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Flavored tobacco/vape ban bill set for Monday hearing
Friday, Oct 25, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller * WCIA TV…
* Greg Bishop at the Center Square…
The original bill excluded menthol, the current amended version removed the exclusion. That is creating quite a bit of controversy. The sponsor, Rep. Deb Conroy, told me today they are currently “working through” that aspect of the legislation. Without a tobacco menthol ban, she said, “we are sending people back to cigarettes” with the favored vaping ban. * The Illinois Association of Convenience Stores claims that flavored tobacco cigarette products, including menthol, make up 38 percent of all sales. Last fiscal year, the tobacco tax on cigarettes brought in $739 million, so menthol and other flavored products brought in about $282.5 million. Other tobacco product revenues totaled $36.7 million last year, opponents say and 79 percent of those products are flavored, they claim, for a total of $28.9 million. Vaping brought in $13 million last year. 82 percent of that is supposedly flavored, so that’s $10.7 million for a grand total of about $322 million. Now, all menthol smokers and flavored vapers are not gonna go total cold turkey. Nor will all of them head out of state or to the black market. Many will start smoking regular cigarettes or tobacco flavored vapes. All of that state revenue will not disappear, but a chunk of it will. About $160 million a year is expected from new taxes on cigarettes and e-cigs to fund the state’s vertical infrastructure program. Using the same formula from above, that works out to about $65 million in revenue from favored products. Again, all that revenue won’t disappear, but some will. * Whenever a government completely completely bans something addictive or habit-forming or, in the case of cannabis, pleasurable, it risks creating or enlarging an underground market. And those markets are often run by not so nice people. Just sayin…
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- copenhagen - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:04 am:
I’d be very curious to see the potential impact on the smokeless tobacco market. The brand in my nickname is the only one I’m aware of that doesn’t rely primarily on flavored varieties.
- Phenomynous - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:05 am:
Ignorant legislators with the wrong remedy to the outrage du jour…what could go wrong?
- Techie - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:13 am:
Such a bad idea to ban flavored tobacco and the flavorings in e-cigs.
Do these legislators not realize that these sudden health problems are almost exclusively, if not completely, the result of black market THC cartridges that have bad stuff in them? And that by making something illegal, they’re just going to create a different black market which could see similar problems of poor quality due to lack of regulation?
It’s hard to watch otherwise decent politicians, including the governor, support such bad measures. Please don’t do this, you might think you’re helping people, but you will be hurting much more than you’re helping.
- Just Observing - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:19 am:
These legislators have lost all common sense. I’m not saying vaping is healthy, but the recent health crisis seems to be largely or entirely centered on black market THC products. So… what response do legislators have?? Go after the non-problem products that have helped countless people get off cigarettes which many, many leading health experts believe are upwards of 95 percent less bad for you. This is absurd.
- anon2 - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:21 am:
The flavorings in e-cigs are especially attractive to youngsters. Not that many adults opt for bubblegum flavor.
An alternative to a ban would be strict enforcement of the minimum sales age. This means regular undercover sting operations, which is what it took to get the drinking age taken seriously.
- Roman - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:24 am:
The bill is well intentioned, but everything about it runs completely contrary to the philosophy behind what the state just did in legalizing recreational cannabis use.
I thought “legalize and regulate” was the way to go, but we’re going back to prohibition on vaping and menthol cigs? Flavored vapes are bad and need to be illegal because they draw teen use, but cannabis infused gummies and chocolates won’t entice teens to get high?
- DarkDante - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:45 am:
With talk of both the vape ban and redoing the formula for a Chicago casino, it appears that there is significant pressure being put on the funding sources for the vertical capital plan. I wonder if JB’s team is actively looking at projections for this.
- DarkDante - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:47 am:
==Not that many adults opt for bubblegum flavor==
He’s right. I know many adult vapers, and they tend to prefer cereal and baked goods based flavors, not bubble gum. /snark (but also very true, these flavored vape products appeal as much to adults as kids, in my anecdotal experience).
- TheGoodLieutenant - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:48 am:
Hmm.. let’s pass some legislation to make us feel like we are doing something good. If we can save just one life… blah, blah…
As others have stated, the only common denominator in these vaping illnesses is that they are linked to unregulated black market products. Banning legitimate products will do what exactly?
- smaller but not healthier - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:59 am:
Anybody else remember “Bidi” cigarettes? These were also pitched at youth, they were based I think on a style of cig popular in India; they were smaller than normal size coffin nails, with fruity flavors. The vape thing reminds me that Illinois stamped those out when it became apparent highschoolers were getting into them.
- Kane County Frank - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:20 pm:
This ban on traditional menthol cigarettes proves it’s not about the vaping illnesses. This is about do-gooders trying to ban things they don’t like. And itll cost the state millions in tax revenue. Such a stupid idea
- Bothanspy - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:32 pm:
===He’s right. I know many adult vapers, and they tend to prefer cereal and baked goods based flavors, not bubble gum. /snark (but also very true, these flavored vape products appeal as much to adults as kids, in my anecdotal experience).===
The next logical conclusion would be to ban fruit flavored beer, spirits, and the like, because children like those flavors.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:35 pm:
== Many will start smoking regular cigarettes or tobacco flavored vapes.==
Not me, I’ll order online. Illinois nanny state dems will not be getting this slice of my tax dollars. Since the FDA announced on Sept 25 that it will not be banning these products, I’m sure that vape shops located in a less irrational state will be happy to accept my business.
- BC - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 1:05 pm:
== With talk of both the vape ban and redoing the formula for a Chicago casino, there is significant pressure being put on the funding sources for the vertical capital plan. ==
That should be the core of Mayor Lightfoot’s argument on her casino re-write request.
- Just Observing - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 1:44 pm:
=== The flavorings in e-cigs are especially attractive to youngsters. Not that many adults opt for bubblegum flavor. ===
You have zero idea what you are talking about. Flavored vape juice is wildly popular among adults.
- Collinsville Kevin - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 1:50 pm:
Oh come on, just let the people vape.
- MiddleGround - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 3:05 pm:
There are really two competing interests here - each with a legitimate public policy/health concern:
1. Preventing youth access to nicotine products - whether flavored or not.
2. Preserving opportunities for adults to use alternative nicotine products in an effort to reduce adult smoking as well as a little bit of “adults should be able do adult things” policy.
As Rich points out, a nicotine addiction isn’t usually solved through pricing or availability. More times than not it’s by way of an alternative nicotine product to cigarettes.
The debate here seems to be an “either/or”. Either protect the kids or protect the options for adults. What hasn’t been considered is a middle ground approach.
Many Cities including Minneapolis a few years ago as well as the State of Utah within the past few weeks have allowed flavored tobacco products to continue to be sold in age-restricted retail stores where minors can’t enter to be exposed to the products in the first place and where better opportunities for governmental oversight of age-enforcement can occur.
This would not only seriously limit youth access to the products, but would recognize the role these alternative flavored products have for adults that want to quit smoking.
This would allow the adult-only (actually 21+) store to remain open and serve the adult market with products we have deemed are only suitable for adult use. Of course this would need to be coupled with stringent back-end enforcement.
In Minneapolis this didn’t eliminate the C-Stores entirely from the market. Many have built a store within a store that simply has an age restricted area much like many C-stores are now doing with their gaming areas.
Before the entire ship sinks in favor of one policy objective, let’s try to take a moment and find a middle ground to address them both.
- Shemp - Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 4:13 pm:
I am so glad we have learned how well bans work on desired products.