We applaud the Honolulu City Council and Mayor Rick Blangiardi for their commitment to the health of our community. Bill 46 was passed with the intent to stop the sale of flavored tobacco products in retail stores on Oahu. This goal is a worthy one.
Like the rest of the country, Hawaii continues to be flooded with illegal flavored e-cigarettes. Nationally, the Food and Drug Administration is working to stop these products from entering the US marketplace. Local jurisdictions play a vital role in supporting these efforts. They have the ability to pass policies that will keep these unregulated products off local shelves and prioritize the health of their communities.
In Hawaii, the counties were able to regulate tobacco sales until 2018. At that time, the state took away this authority. Bill 46 sends a message to the state that it reconsider and restore the counties’ power so they are able to protect their communities when the state does not act.
Unfortunately, Bill 46 will not go into effect until the county’s authority is reinstated, and that must happen at the state level. However, by passing this bill, the City and County of Honolulu is sending a clear message that there is both an urgent need to end the sale of flavored tobacco and that they are willing to ensure that happens within the county.
Bill 46 is not just about e-cigarettes; it also eliminates small flavored cigars, the second most commonly used tobacco products by youth. Equally as important, the bill ends the sale of menthol cigarettes, which have been deliberately marketed by the tobacco industry to Native Hawaiians. Eliminating these items, which trap our communities in a cycle of addiction, will significantly impact public health for generations to come.
We acknowledge that Bill 46 is not perfect. Most tobacco bills accumulate “baggage” through the process of public hearings. This accumulated baggage is a strategy that tobacco control opponents use to derail meaningful policies and make tobacco control advocates to refocus on the new crisis created to stall good policy.
Exemptions are always a concern in the world of public health. For instance, in 2009, when the federal government ended the sale of flavored cigarettes, the flavor menthol was exempted. Menthol makes it much easier to start tobacco by masking the harsh throat burning sensation. The cooling sensation from menthol also keeps people hooked on tobacco, since it makes it much more difficult to quit. The pervasive popularity of menthol cigarettes among communities of color, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders, is the direct result of the tobacco industry’s targeted marketing and has an unacceptable toll on our community: tobacco kills 1,400 people in Hawaii every year.
While exemptions stand in the way of a “perfect” bill, we will not allow perfection to be the enemy of progress. Ensuring that neither menthol- flavored or other enticing sweet flavored tobacco products cannot be sold on Oahu once the bill goes into effect is a substantial public health win.
