Lawmakers are urging the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to reconsider its ban on tobacco after realizing there is no enforcement on the ban, particularly in the states of California and Massachusetts.
20 members of the United States Congress have written to the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Robert Califf, stating that banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars will exacerbate the issue of illegal trade in tobacco products.
“When Congress created the Tobacco Control Act in 2009, the intention was to enable the FDA to regulate the tobacco industry properly. If the ban were to result in a large illegal market, it would only increase the risk to the American people, lead to more crime, burden law enforcement agencies, and create more community conflict.”
They urged the FDA to take illegal markets seriously and establish measures to protect children.
“We urge you to reconsider the proposed regulations by the FDA on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars and to avoid further prohibitive actions that may fuel the expansion of the illegal market.”
The illicit market isn’t particularly thriving in the trunk of someone’s car but in major convenience stores around the state.
In Inglewood, California, 7-Eleven flouts the law by hiding the banned tobacco products behind a rolling cart of potato chips.
This author visits the many stores around the nearly 9-square mile City where its a common practice for the sales of the banned products to continue despite a widespread campaign last year alerting retailers that the ban would go into effect January 1, after voters affirmed Senate Bill 793 in the November 2021 General Election.
Franchisees in Inglewood are corporate sponsors to Inglewood elected officials.
The Inglewood Police Department accepted a Tobacco Grant in February of this year that provides over $245,000 to “promote a healthier California by reducing illegal sales and marketing of cigarette and tobacco products.”
The police department isn’t using these funds to monitor compliance of state law which bans the sale of menthol and flavored tobacco products.
In fact, during annual renewals of tobacco licenses, IPD makes no provisions in the issuance of the licenses that certain sales are prohibited under state law.
In short, without any teeth in the law, and zero enforcement from law enforcement agencies, the ban is useless and not worth the paper it’s written on.
