{"id":2443846,"date":"2019-05-06T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-moving-forward-with-ban-on-all-flavored-nicotine-products\/"},"modified":"2019-05-06T21:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T03:04:00","slug":"aspen-moving-forward-with-ban-on-all-flavored-nicotine-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-moving-forward-with-ban-on-all-flavored-nicotine-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen moving forward with ban on all flavored nicotine products"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aspen City Council will continue to move forward with a full ban of all flavored tobacco products, despite significant pushback from retailers who sell the products.<\/p>\n

A majority of council on Monday during a work session gave staff direction to continue with an ordinance banning both tobacco and vaporizing products that have flavors.<\/p>\n

The move is to prevent teenagers from getting a hold of e-cigarettes or other flavored nicotine products that are attractive because of the taste.<\/p>\n

After council agreed in March<\/a> for staff to craft an ordinance that bans the sale of all flavored nicotine products in Aspen, including vaping liquids, flavored cigarettes and cigars and chewing tobacco, city officials reached out to area businesses to get their feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we met with retailers we were met with some pretty significant resistance,\u201d C.J. Oliver, the city\u2019s environmental health and sustainability director, told council.<\/p>\n

Retailers said the city\u2019s $3 tax on cigarettes<\/a> and changing the legal age to buy tobacco and nicotine products to 21 have curbed sales and the goal to limit access to teens has been met.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey saw implementing a full flavor ban as an unnecessary step in protecting youth health as they didn\u2019t experience underage customers attempting to purchase other flavored tobacco products, such as flavored tobacco or menthol cigarettes,\u201d Oliver wrote in a memo<\/a> to council. \u201cThey did note that these other flavored tobacco products make up a significant portion of their sales to adult customers which they believe to be the intent of passing such an ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilman Adam Frisch was in the minority of advancing a full ban until a larger conversation with local retailers has occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we owe them a conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we owe our business community who are trying to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interim City Manager Sara Ott noted that the city already has had the conversation with retailers and the feedback is they want to sell flavored tobacco to adults.<\/p>\n

Michael Haisfield, who owns and operates the Shell gas station known as Local\u2019s Corner, already had pulled vaping liquids and devices from his shelves in an effort to protect youth.<\/p>\n

But menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products are still available to adults older than 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am somewhat reluctant to tell someone who is over 21 they can\u2019t buy flavored tobacco,\u201d said Councilman Ward Hauenstein, who ultimately agreed to continue with the full ban in order to protect youth, but added that he is sensitive to the revenue loss for retailers.<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Ann Mullins said it\u2019s about young people\u2019s health, not bottom lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather protect the kids than cigarette sales,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Council had the option to create an ordinance that only bans the sale of flavored vaping liquids.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job up here is to protect the youth, adults can do whatever they want,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have any choice but to do the comprehensive plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several people who work in the health care industry and public health agencies spoke to council about the rapid addiction teenagers acquire once they\u2019ve been exposed to nicotine products that lure them with flavors like bubble gum.<\/p>\n

Council will consider an ordinance for the full ban later this month, with a second reading and public hearing to follow.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen City Council will continue to move forward with a full ban of all flavored tobacco products, despite significant pushback from retailers who sell the products. A majority of council on Monday during a work session gave staff direction to continue with an ordinance banning both tobacco and vaporizing products that have flavors. The move […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 20:04:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}