HSTA educators recorded videos, wrote testimony and op-eds backing restrictions
Posted: October 20, 2023
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onolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi Friday signed a bill into law aimed at banning flavored tobacco products in a bid to reduce the number of youth who vape.
“We step forward into the future in attacking this problem that is attacking our kids,” Blangiardi said during a bill signing ceremony at Honolulu Hale attended by city council members, students, and health advocates.
“The purpose of this ordinance today is to define and prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products within the City and County of Honolulu,” he added.
“We want to fully protect our youth from the harm of tobacco, and we strongly believe it is necessary to prohibit all flavored ingredients, including menthol, in all tobacco and nicotine products,” Blangiardi said.
While the act will not result in immediate changes because state law currently supersedes county law on the sales of cigarettes, tobacco products and electronic smoking devices, the measure puts a ban in place should state lawmakers restore the counties’ power to once again regulate tobacco and smoking devices.
“The statistics are staggering in that one in three high school students admit to using e-cigarettes,” Blangiardi said.
Eight in 10 of those youth started with a flavored product, he added.
Tobacco makers “lure kids with candy-like flavors like bubble gum, POG and gummy bear, to name but a few,” Blangiardi said.
“While Bill 46 is not as complete as I would have wanted, it is nonetheless a powerful first step,” he said.
“We cannot do it alone. We need the state to give us the power to regulate tobacco products so this law can go into effect. Our state Legislature needs to pass bills that will help us complete the job,” Blangiardi added.
A senior at Roosevelt High School, Samantha Lay told reporters at the City Hall signing ceremony the bill is an important first step that she called “amazing.”
“The tobacco industry has had so much control over youth nowadays, leaving them vulnerable through their targeted marketing and their constant messaging. And we do want to make sure that youth who do get hooked in starting with these flavors, that we can help prevent them from even beginning to vape in the first place and falling into that trap of addiction,” Lay said.
Honolulu City Council member Matt Weyer, who chairs the council’s Housing, Sustainability and Health Committee, said, “What’s so exciting about Bill 46 is that it was and is youth-driven.”
“It was pretty recently that the power to regulate tobacco products was taken away from the counties. So I know this really is a framework that I know these kids and the public health advocates can take statewide to let the Legislature know that counties are able and ready to protect our community,” Weyer said.
On Tuesday, HSTA Teacher Lobbyist Laverne Moore’s op-ed was published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, lauding the Honolulu City Council for passing the ban and calling on Blangiardi to sign it into law.
Educators across the state have long called for stronger restrictions, saying the youth vaping epidemic is only getting worse with fruit and candy flavors, and devices that resemble flash drives or can be easily concealed. Several HSTA members recorded testimony videos this fall to share with county lawmakers about the need for tighter regulation of vaping materials.
Blangiardi said Oʻahu has “a history of leading the state in tobacco control policies.”
Honolulu was the first county in the state to pass a smoke-free restaurant bill in 2002, with other counties doing the same after that, the mayor noted.
“This is really important for the future of our city. So I’m really happy we’re able to get this done,” said Blangiardi.