Cities and counties across the state have acted to remove flavored tobacco from their communities, and now California voters have followed suit. The new state law ends the sale of flavored tobacco, including vapes and menthol-flavored cigarettes. It’s a huge step in keeping kids from getting hooked on deadly tobacco products. The law will also help save lives in the Black community. For decades, the tobacco industry has marketed menthol cigarettes to communities of color, leading to soaring rates of addiction, disease, and death.
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Policies
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Big Tobacco knowingly sentences us to lifetimes of sickness, disease, and early death.* They don’t see our beauty, our individuality, or our rich history – only how rich we can make them.
Menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars have been and are the main vectors of death and disease in the African American community. There is nothing better to do now to show that Black lives matter than to get menthol cigarettes out of our community.
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), the second largest tobacco company in the US and maker of Newport cigarettes, the best-selling menthols in the US, infiltrates our community without us knowing it by giving money to Black organizations, and using them to spread misinformation about how local bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, work.*
Big Tobacco pays Black leaders to be part of community events that are disguised as events addressing the criminal justice system and decriminalizing the Black community, exploiting community concerns about this important issue. In reality, these events mislead the community about how restrictions on the sale of menthol cigarettes work.*
In this community town hall flyer, it looks like National Action Network (NAN), a civil rights organization, is hosting the event, but look at who’s really behind it.*
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) is really behind this event, paying for the travel costs of the panelists and making contributions to the panelists’ organizations. But RAI buried their name on the flyer and made it look like NAN was the main sponsor of the event – why? Because, RAI is using Black voices to lure people to the event to spread misinformation about menthol cigarette sales bans to protect Big Tobacco’s bottom line.*
Town hall panelist, LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership), is one of the many organizations that accepts money from Big Tobacco and advocates for what the tobacco industry wants – to keep deadly menthol cigarettes on the market.*
Op-ed article by a member of LEAP, an organization that takes Big Tobacco money and advocates for Big Tobacco’s bottom line.*
LEAP uses their speakers to oppose menthol sales bans while taking tens of thousands of dollars from Big Tobacco.* They falsely claim that once a menthol sales ban goes into effect, it will criminalize people who are in possession of menthol cigarettes.
The truth is, nearly all California cities and counties with flavored tobacco policies that ban the sale of menthol cigarettes are thoughtfully written to ensure that users of menthol cigarettes and vapes cannot be punished.*
Nearly all local flavored tobacco policies in California penalize retailers who sell tobacco for selling menthol cigarettes. These local policies fine or suspend tobacco retailer licenses if there’s a violation.*
"...speaker for the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit of law enforcement officers who want to improve the criminal justice system."
"To draw up a ban – which could result in criminal consequences – only against products favored by people of color seems not only unjust but also remarkably insensitive..."
"I oppose criminalizing menthol tobacco along with other flavored tobaccos because this ban would disproportionately affect Black and Brown people..."
Big Tobacco’s flyer claims e-cigarettes are the real flavored tobacco problem, but deceptively leaves out important facts about how menthol cigarettes have devastated the Black community.
This flyer is pro-menthol propaganda created by Reynolds American (RAI). Big Tobacco wants you to believe that menthol cigarettes aren’t a real problem, but they have been preying on our community for decades, leaving disease and death in its wake.
Tobacco kills more African Americans annually than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides COMBINED.* The flavored tobacco issue isn’t just about protecting kids, it’s about saving the lives of our community. Bottom line: Big Tobacco cares more about their pockets than our lives.*
Menthols are a deadly flavored tobacco product.* That doesn’t need to be compared to e-cigarettes to know it’s wrong.
Learn more about Big Tobacco’s history with menthol cigarettes.
A joint investigation has learned that Newport cigarette maker Reynolds American has hired Black lobbyists and influenced grass-roots groups to help fan fears among Black communities about menthol bans.
This exploitation is most apparent when considering the wildly disproportionate usage of menthol cigarettes among Black Americans. For decades now, the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed menthol products to Black communities.
Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement have put new pressure on Congress and the White House to reduce racial health disparities. And there are few starker examples than this: Black smokers smoke less but die of heart attacks, strokes and other causes linked to tobacco use at higher rates than white smokers do, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Big Tobacco has mercilessly targeted African Americans since the 1960s with the heavy marketing of menthol cigarettes. In California, 70 percent of African American adults who smoke consume menthol cigarettes compared to just 18 percent of white adults who smoke.
Tobacco kills. That’s no secret. But Big Tobacco’s insidious marketing tactics use menthol-flavored products to keep African Americans — and especially young people — hooked on tobacco. It’s time we protect our children and communities by cutting Big Tobacco off at the source.
