The Denver City Council approved a ban on most flavored tobacco and e-cigarette products on Monday night.

By July 2023, the only places where adults can legally buy any condiments in the city will be hookah lounges or shops selling pipes and handmade cigars.

The ban was passed by 8 votes to 3 on Monday. Kevin Flynn, a committee member who tried to modify the exemption measures for menthol products, and Chris Herndon, who opposed it altogether, were absent.

The vote ended several months of debate among parliament members. They believed that restricting access to flavored products was essential to combat youth smoking and e-cigarette smoking, while members believed that the ban was that excessive government expansion was more likely to harm small business owners. Not to weaken the e-cigarette epidemic in this young country.

"This is really about public health. We make these decisions not based on power status and who contributes to the tax base, but really limit harm," Congressman Jamie Torres said before the vote. "Children are not owners, and children are not business owners."

Committee members Amanda Sawyer and Debbie Ortega co-sponsored the bill. On November 29, the committee held three committee meetings and held a public hearing in the parliament hall before reaching Monday's results. In the process, the bill was watered down in some places, but it was strong in others.

Sawyer and Ortega accepted an amendment to exempt waterpipe lounges that only serve customers 21 and older, and another amendment to exempt pipes and handmade cigars.

For centuries, the tobacco used in hookahs that have been used in Middle Eastern cultures has always tasted, so if no exemption is granted, the ban would effectively shut down about 20 businesses in the city.

Congressman Paul Cashman brought the pipe and cigar amendments and pointed out that many of these products also contain flavoring agents. Cashman's reason for proposing the amendment is that the focus of the decree is to prevent young people from smoking.

He said at a parliamentary hearing last month: "I didn't know the children were walking around with dirty old Stoggy."

The new ban left several groups feeling burned. Opponents include owners of small businesses that smoke and specialize in e-cigarettes, as well as some members of the Denver black community, who believe that banning menthol products is a paternalistic attack on their personal choices.

Phil Guerin, owner of the Myxed Up Creations tobacco shop on East Colfax Avenue, participated in multiple hearings to oppose the ban. He claimed to provide them with alternatives through e-cigarette products, thereby helping thousands of adults to quit smoking. The ban will undermine the efforts of more people to quit smoking.

"You act as if we don't exist at all," Guerin said at the Monday night meeting. "You could have come to me, we could have solved this problem as a community. I have a solution."

An amendment proposed by Congressman Kendra Black was rejected at the first parliamentary hearing of the bill, which would exempt cigarette shops 21 and older from checking their ID cards. Flynn's amendment to exempt mint-flavored products also failed in a split vote last month.

Community activist Alvertis Simmons is one of those who support this. He condemned the committee’s exemption of hookah lounges in part because of their cultural significance, but mainly because of the presence of menthol among black smokers. The prevalence.

"At some point, the city council will have to realize that black people have their own ideas," Simmons said. "You talk about fairness, you must be fair."

At the city council hearing last month, the implementation of an amendment was postponed for a year. The ban will not take effect on July 1, 2022, but will start on July 1, 2023, allowing small business owners more time to adapt. The amendment was also proposed by Cashman, who ultimately voted against the ban.

On Monday, City Councillor Jolon Clark stated that he hopes that more time will be allowed for the city to explore more severe penalties for tobacco shops that sell cigarettes to underage consumers and other regulatory agencies that address youth drug use. . He said that, ideally, he hopes the city can re-examine the exemption for cigarette shops aged 21 and above. He voted for the ban.

Some board members are still skeptical about the value of the ban. Denver became the seventh municipality in Colorado to restrict the sales of flavored tobacco and e-cigarette products, but its neighbors on all sides did not restrict these sales, opening the door for people to obtain them elsewhere, but it is still possible to pass them on to children .

City Council Chairman Stasi Gilmore said at a public hearing on November 29: “There is nothing in this legislation that prevents someone from going to Aurora or Commercial City to buy menthol cigarettes and sell them in Denver parks.” Gill Moroccan did not vote on Monday. "Frankly, I am very worried about the unintended consequences that we have not fully explored and studied in depth as a council."

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