A proposed Big Island ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products was widely popular Wednesday with residents and the Hawaii County Council.
Bill 102, which would impose a countywide ban on the marketing or sale of any tobacco product that “imparts a taste or odor other than the taste or odor of tobacco,” needs one more council vote and the mayor’s signature to become law — although it would still require action from the state to take effect.
During Wednesday’s reading of the bill, dozens of residents, including keiki and teachers, urged the council to vote to pass the measure in order to protect the health of Big Island students.
Mitzie Higa, representing the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said teachers and school administrators regularly confiscate vape and e-cigarette devices and paraphernalia by the bagful, to no lasting avail.
“We don’t want to punish students, what we need is to regulate the (tobacco) industry,” Higa said. “Kids don’t realize how thoroughly they’ll become addicted when they start vaping.”
“Keiki are growing up in a world where doing drugs is seen as normal,” said Kamehameha Schools Hawaii junior Zoe Gacayan, who shared a story about a family member who died of emphysema after becoming addicted to menthol cigarettes. If menthol-flavored products were unavailable, she said, that family member might have more easily been able to quit.
Kealoha Madriaga, West Hawaii tobacco coordinator for the Hawaii Public Health Institute, said “44,000 people would quit” tobacco if menthol was unavailable, explaining that without the minty taste to soothe the irritation caused by smoking, the habit would become less pleasurable.
Liza Ryan Gill, representing the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the candy-like flavors of vapes and e-cigarettes are extremely popular among youth, with eight out of 10 children who have ever used tobacco products starting with a flavored product. Roughly 14.1% of U.S. high schoolers reported using e-cigarettes in 2022, and 30% of Big Island high school students reported the same, according to a letter she submitted to the council.
Twenty-four Keaau Middle School students submitted written testimony about how vaping impacts their everyday lives.
“I’ve never much cared for public bathrooms, but I have gone 3 years without using the ones at our school, because of a few different problems,” wrote one student, Magnolia. “Firstly, most of the stalls are taken by kids using them to vape. Secondly, if you dare to, you are suspect by association.”
Magnolia, who did not include a last name on her letter, wrote that security guards search students’ bags after they use the bathroom, which impedes class attendance.
“Kids at my school who vape are developing coughs and they are constantly vaping during class, in the bathrooms, behind school buildings and even out in the open,” wrote student Bella Klug.
There were only two testifiers who spoke against the bill. One, Jasmin Rios, said a ban will hurt small businesses while pushing users toward an unregulated black market. At the same time, she said, a lack of flavored vape products will be detrimental for users who rely on those products to help quit cigarettes.
The other opponent of the bill was the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, whose president, Tina Yamaki, wrote that the ban would effectively destroy the vape market entirely.
“It is our understanding that (all vape juices) available worldwide are ‘flavored,’” wrote Yamaki. “Because many do not contain tobacco, e-liquids have no ‘natural tobacco’ taste, or any taste for that matter, without the addition of flavorings.”
Yamaki concluded that a more logical measure to curb youth vaping would be “stricter laws and consequences aimed at the minors who are vaping … or those who purchase the products for the minors.”
Ultimately, however, council members praised the keiki for coming out to testify and voted unanimously — with Ka‘u Councilwoman Michelle Galimba absent— in support of the bill.
The council will vote again on the bill for its final reading at a future meeting. However, even if it passes, the ban will not take effect. Because state tobacco regulations currently supersede the counties’, the ban can only take effect if a state law is passed that returns regulatory authority over tobacco products to the counties.
“Unless the state does something, we’re stuck where we are,” summarized Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder.
It is unclear whether any state lawmakers intend to pursue such a bill next year, although Kohala Councilwoman Cindy Evans offered to donate air miles to keiki so they could present their case in person to the state Legislature in Honolulu.
If and when such a state bill is passed, the county ban will take effect 42 days later.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
