Colorado’s Proposed Vape Flavour Ban Dies in Legislature

Earlier this year, bipartisan lawmakers in the Colorado General Assembly proposed House Bill (HB) 22-1064. The measure proposed banning flavoured tobacco products including vaping and heated tobacco products, menthol cigarettes, hookahs, chewing tobacco, and cigars. Any violators would be subject to similar penalties as retailers caught selling tobacco to minors.

The bill was passed by Colorado’s House earlier this month, and proceeded to the state Senate soon after. Bill co-sponsor, state Sen. Rhonda Fields was optimistic. “You know, it looks great. It’s on its way to the Senate, and then we’ll make sure it goes through all the appropriate committees and I’m looking forward to debating it,” she said.

Meanwhile senate proceeded to drop the bill. President of the American Vapor Manufacturers, commended the move. “Colorado rejecting the flavor ban is a signal for other jurisdictions to refocus public health efforts on what works — vaping,” she said. “Nicotine vaping is the single most effective smoking cessation method ever devised.”

Connecticut drops a proposed flavour ban for the 3rd consecutive time

Similarly, Connecticut’s Senate Bill 367 which was presented by the Connecticut Public Health Committee earlier this year, did not gain enough support. This is the third time that a proposed flavour ban has failed to pass in the state, as Colorado had attempted banning flavours twice before. In 2020 a measure was raised as part of Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget but was unsuccessful. While in 2021 a bill barring the sale of flavoured cigarettes, tobacco products and e-cigarettes was also put forward and then set aside.

In line with previous findings, a new study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, found that banning vape flavours will encourage vapers to return to smoking, whilst creating a huge black market for e-cigarettes. Study author Charles Gardner revealed that 2,159 US respondents aged between 18 and 34, were polled as part of the study and 33% of them would switch back to smoking if flavours were unavailable.

To this effect, concluded the researchers, flavour restrictions may be detrimental rather than beneficial. “Moreover, if vape product sales were restricted to tobacco flavours, 39.1% of users reported being likely to continue using e-cigarettes but 33.2 percent were likely to switch to cigarettes. If vape product sales were entirely restricted, e-cigarette users were equally likely to switch to cigarettes,” said the study.

Colorado’s Flavour Ban Would be Detrimental to Smoking Cessation Efforts