Outraged parent over the ban of flavored tobacco, our kids are in danger

By -Jennifer Engelbach

While no parent “wants” their child to smoke flavored tobacco, California’s ban of the product (Proposition 31) does far more harm to our children and communities than good. 

Before the California State Legislature passed SB 793 in August 2020, the bill’s author, Senator Jerry Hill, said, “Flavors play an outsized and dangerous role in youth tobacco initiation.”

But contrary to our policymakers’ assumption(s), since the ban began in California on December 21, 2022, the crime and products sold on the black market have steadily increased. 

On January 4, 2023, a 19 and 20-year-old male were shot dead in San Marcos after coordinating a sale of vape products from illegal dealers WHO WERE TEENAGERS. 

With this ban, China, Mexico cartels, and drug dealers in our neighboring states see this as an opportunity to bring the product to California illegally to make a profit – which is undoubtedly at the expense of our children’s lives. 

If teenagers or adults want to smoke flavored tobacco, they will get their hands on it, whether sold legally or illegally. But now they’re getting their hands on products not approved by the FDA. 

A research article I read stated that the ban of flavored tobacco in regions across the U.S. is causing a rapid rise in retail opportunities for the black and gray markets. 

In this article, a knockoff manufacturer called made-in-china.com is a popular site where people purchase flavored tobacco products when not accessible in their region. So I followed the link, searched through the website, and sure enough – it’s convenient and easily accessible. And who knows what these products could be laced with?

With the rise in fentanyl-laced products in California and across the U.S., I can see this ban further propelling the epidemic of overdoses and killing more of our children.

Instead of integrating such a blanket policy, the time and millions of dollars poured into the Proposition 31 campaign should have been used to educate our children about flavored tobacco use, the dangers of the illegal market, and the fentanyl epidemic.

It’s evident that our policymakers did not plan this one out, as they’ve quickly made way for criminals to thrive and are putting our children’s health and safety at risk. 

There must be a much better solution than the one in place.