New York Governor Kathy Hochul is set to introduce legislation to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products. This will apply to menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars and cigarillos, and flavored smokeless tobacco.
The proposed ban expands the State’s current ban on selling flavored vaping products. According to New York’s Health Department, if passed and signed into law, New York would be the third state to do so.
Hochul previously failed to secure backing from state legislators on banning menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products.
A new survey commissioned by the state Health Department aims to establish support for an all-out prohibition. The survey is believed to serve the purpose of “test marketing” to ascertain preliminary public opinion for a statewide ban.
The survey asks questions about public opinion on banning such products.
“What is your opinion about a policy that would end the sale of all tobacco products in New York within 10 years?” was among the questions asked last week in the “New York Local Opinion Leaders Survey,” as reported by the New York Post.
Another asks: “What is your opinion about a policy that would ban the sale of all tobacco products to those born after a certain date? For example, those born after 2010 or later would never be sold tobacco.”
Non-profit research organization RTI International is conducting the survey. According to an April 13 memo to prospective participants from Jennifer Lee, director of the Health Department’s Bureau of Tobacco Control, it is being distributed to community leaders across the state the Gateway Pundit reported.
While some argue that the ban will effectively protect young people from getting addicted to nicotine, the president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, Kent Sopris, is concerned the proposed ban would be a death sentence for many businesses.
According to New York’s Department of Health, a 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that 80 percent of middle and high school tobacco users reported using flavored products.
Sopris pointed to the contrast between Hochul proposing a ban on tobacco products while actively endorsing the sale of recreational cannabis—which became legal in the state in 2021.
“If you are out there advocating for the expanded sale of retail cannabis that sells candied flavored options, how can you tell regulated legal convenience stores they can’t sell menthol cigarettes to adults?” he argued.
Moreover, according to the governor’s office estimates, the ban on flavored tobacco products would prove costly to the state. This fiscal year alone, it would cause a tax deficit of over $130 million, while in fiscal 2025, that figure would rise to more than $250 million.
According to Sopris, almost half of New York’s total tobacco sales are for flavored products, including menthols.
There is no clear indication whether the Health Department supports or opposes the policy, according to Health Department spokesman Cort Ruddy. Still, he added that surveys of a similar sort have been conducted for over a decade and were necessary for the interest of public health.
The Health Department, however, was reportedly unable to provide any specific references to previous polls aimed at banning all tobacco products.