This is April Fools’ Day and tobacco use is a foolish habit, but addiction is no joke and there is nothing remotely humorous about the diseases tobacco causes. That is reason enough to urge Colorado lawmakers to enact legislation banning flavored tobacco products.
An effort to accomplish that is being spearheaded by a group called Flavors Hook Kids Colorado, whose web address is its name plus dot-org. Its partners in this effort include 76 groups and organizations known for advocating good health and children’s well-being, plus half a dozen Colorado cities and agencies, and a lengthy list of prominent individuals. They deserve to succeed.
Flavored tobacco products come in various shapes and forms. Examples include e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, fuel for hookahs, vaping juices and menthol cigarettes. The flavors can include different kinds of fruit, various types of candy or desserts, as well as mint and menthol. All are tobacco-based and include nicotine, sometimes at high concentrations.
The point to all that is simple. This is the tobacco industry’s latest scheme for getting kids addicted to tobacco. From their point of view, doing so is an essential marketing strategy.
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Surgeon General, “Nearly nine out of 10 smokers started smoking by age 18.” The tobacco industry needs to get kids hooked to maintain its profitability because, as the report also says, “Almost no one starts smoking after age 25.”
Addicting children to tobacco is even worse than it sounds. Not only will something like a third of those who continue to smoke die prematurely, but even those who quit can be damaged by it. As HHS says, teens who smoke “may end up as adults with lungs that will never grow to full capacity.”
Youths are also more sensitive to nicotine than grown-ups. And with that, they can become dependent sooner.
Tobacco has a long history in this country. It was one of the first and most important crops for the newly established American colonies. And its use throughout our history has been all but ubiquitous. Those old enough to remember can attest that at one time it seemed that everybody smoked almost everywhere. See movies from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.
But that was then and this is now. Back then we simply did not know better. Today we do. In the 21st century, addictive schemes like flavored tobacco look no different than peddling heroin.
That tobacco has a long history is no longer relevant. Today, tobacco use must be seen for what it is – a public health issue. Keeping kids from becoming addicts is a great place to start. And banning flavored tobacco is a welcome step in that direction.
Colorado House Bill 22-1064 would ban flavored tobacco. How effective it will be will depend on its final form and Big Tobacco is pouring money into killing or gutting it.
Our lawmakers need to know that their constituents care about Colorado’s kids.
