The Denver mayor mentioned the ordinance handed this week by the Metropolis Council “falls brief.”
DENVER — Mayor Michael Hancock on Friday vetoed an ordinance handed by the Metropolis Council banning the sale of sure flavored tobacco merchandise beginning in 2023.
The mayor mentioned in a press release that nevertheless well-intentioned the ordinance is, it “falls brief” as a result of it could end in a patchwork of laws within the metro space.
He mentioned in a letter to the Denver Metropolis Council that any such ban must be finished by means of the state legislature and apply throughout Colorado as a result of a ban in a single metropolis is not sufficient to cease youths from crossing the border right into a neighboring metropolis to purchase the merchandise.
“We are able to work on this in a extra collaborative approach, and we are able to additionally transfer to reinforce our current regulatory framework, along with pursuing a broader technique by appearing state-wide or no less than regionally,” Hancock mentioned in a press release. “The well being of our kids is of important significance – my objective is to not cease this dialog with this veto, my objective is to broaden it.”
The Denver Metropolis Council handed the ordinance in an 8-to-3 vote Monday night time. It was to ban flavored menthol cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and vaping merchandise offered in all institutions in Denver beginning July 1, 2023.
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The ban wouldn’t have included hookah, pure cigars, pipe tobacco, and hurt discount instruments. The ordinance outlined a flavored tobacco product as any tobacco product, or a part of a tobacco product, that imparts a style or scent aside from the style or scent of tobacco.
Hancock additionally mentioned the vetoed ordinance would have damage native companies that promote the merchandise, lots of that are small and minority-owned, and the ensuing financial disruption could be felt by Denver alone.
“Many native companies and enterprise homeowners would expertise a extreme drop of their earnings, some might select to find to different jurisdictions the place such a ban isn’t in place, and others must shut their companies solely, leaving their workers out of a job,” Hancock mentioned in his letter to the Metropolis Council.
He mentioned he is dedicated to working with the Metropolis Council to maintain flavored tobacco merchandise out of the palms of youths. He recommended steps equivalent to extra licensing necessities and expanded fines, in addition to elevated enforcement of current laws.
Two Metropolis Council members, Amanda Sawyer and Debbie Ortega, launched a joint assertion saying the veto was disappointing.
“If the mayor believes elevated enforcement could be efficient to deal with this epidemic, these modifications might have taken place at any time,” the assertion says partially. “Thus far, he has chosen to not do something, however we recognize his partnership in persevering with this dialogue. That mentioned, this veto is a part of the legislative course of, and we sit up for one other Council vote on Monday night time.”
Youngsters’s Hospital Colorado additionally mentioned in a press release that the veto was disappointing: “Youth vaping and cigarette use in Colorado is larger than the nation as a complete, and at Youngsters’s Colorado we have now handled hundreds of youngsters for preventable respiratory circumstances consequently. Our medical doctors and nurses hear from kids in clinic every day who want they hadn’t began utilizing tobacco merchandise, and want to give up, however at the moment are hooked.”
Denver would have been the state’s largest metropolis to move such a ban. Edgewater, Aspen, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs have handed their very own bans.
Boulder banned flavored e-cigarettes in 2019. In 2020, that metropolis’s voters authorized a 40% tax on all vaping merchandise.
Hancock’s full assertion is beneath:
“I share with the sponsors of this ordinance the will and objective to scale back youth nicotine use in our metropolis, particularly youth vaping, which has develop into more and more prevalent. Beforehand, we’ve taken steps collectively to scale back youth nicotine use, together with elevating the acquisition age to 21, instituting a brand new tobacco retail retailer license and enhancing enforcement efforts. Nevertheless properly intentioned, this ordinance falls brief. We are able to work on this in a extra collaborative approach and we are able to additionally transfer to reinforce our current regulatory framework, along with pursuing a broader technique by appearing state-wide or no less than regionally. The well being of our kids is of important significance – my objective is to not cease this dialog with this veto, my objective is to broaden it.”
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