WASSP-15 BILL 156 (2024) BILL 156 (2024), TO PROHIBIT RETAILERS FROM SELLING OR MARKETING FLAVORED TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND MISLABELING PRODUCTS AS NICOTINE-FREE (WASSP-15)
Aloha, as a tobacco treatment specialist for the last 20 years, I am sorry to say that we have a new generation that are currently impacted by flavors in tobacco. The flavors entice youth, while the nicotine keeps them hooked for life. In 2024 8 in 10 youth who currently use e-cigarettes reported using flavored products. Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products will reduce the appeal of these products and protect our keiki from a lifetime of addiction. Mahalo for considering Bill 156.
Aloha,
I am a mother and community member who lives in Kula. I am a children's law and policy consultant and my work includes a focus on the health and well-being of our keiki. I urge you to pass Bill 156 and stop the sale and marketing of flavored tobacco products and the mislabeling of products.
The testimony already submitted includes compelling personal stories and data. It is clear that our parents, healthcare providers, public health experts, and adults who work with youth understand how dangerous these products are and want them out of our community.
I hope you will listen to the community and prioritize the health of our keiki by passing this bill.
I live in Wailuku Maui and I strongly support this bill. We, you, as our elected officials, need to protect our Maui Youth. The data speaks for itself and shows you, point black, that there is a problem with our children vaping on Maui. Vapes have infiltrated our schools and are even surfacing in elementary schools now - including Hana, Lanai, and Molokai. It's all over. As a parent, I am struggling to try to keep my children on the right path - away from vapes, away from drugs. Please help us parents and help in giving our Maui youth a fighting chance. To learn that 8 in 10 youth that use vapes started with a flavored product is shocking and makes me wonder, why would you not ban it? If this is the hook and possibly the gateway, as parents, leaders, community members, elected officials, you should want to protect the future of Maui. For these reasons, I strongly support Bill 156 and the ban of flavored vapes.
My name is Edward Codelia, I fully support Bill 156 but do propose some amendments to strengthen the ordinance (SEE ATTACHED). The rising use of vape products among underage individuals and the increasing availability of unregulated products here in Maui make stricter regulations necessary. By limiting the sale and transport of electronic and smokeless vape products to licensed distributors, you can ensure better compliance with age restrictions and product safety standards. These amendments would help Maui County effectively manage the distribution of vape products and ensure they meet safety requirements. The inclusion of specific language for vape products, alongside other flavored tobacco products, would close loopholes that currently allow harmful products to be sold. I believe This ordinance supports public health by reducing the availability of unregulated and potentially dangerous products. I urge the Council to pass Bill 156 with these critical amendments to protect the health of Maui County residents.
Secondly, please create a bill (SEE ATTACHED) that would address black market vape products. If you are not aware, there is a black market for vape products, and it has become a significant issue in Maui County. There are many individuals on Maui that are selling these black market products and or making their own vape product and selling them on the streets of Maui.
The Philippines also plays a significant role in the black market for vape products in Hawaii and on Maui. The Philippines has seen increased production and distribution of unregulated vape items. These products often bypass quality controls, including those ensuring safe levels of nicotine and eliminating harmful additives.
The Philippines’ black market vape production affects both its own population and foreign markets, more specifically, our State, presenting public health risks due to unregulated and potentially hazardous ingredients.
Black market vape products come from a variety of sources. Some of which are:
1. Overseas Manufacturers: Many black market vape products are sourced from manufacturers in countries with less stringent regulations, such as China. These manufacturers can produce vape cartridges, e-liquids, and devices at lower costs, often skirting quality and safety standards. They are then shipped to the U.S. and sold illegally online or through in-person networks.
2. Counterfeit Products: Popular brands like JUUL and Puff Bar are frequently counterfeited, and these fake products make their way into the black market. Counterfeiters replicate the packaging and branding of well-known vape products but fill them with potentially harmful ingredients or substances, sometimes without any nicotine control or quality assurance.
3. Online Marketplaces and Social Media: Some illicit vape products are distributed through online platforms and social media channels. Sellers often target platforms where they can easily reach youth and avoid regulatory oversight. These transactions bypass age restrictions, taxes, and quality checks.
4. Out-of-State Purchases and Resale: In areas with vape restrictions, individuals often purchase products legally in other states with fewer regulations and then resell them illegally in regions with stricter laws. This kind of interstate “gray market” fuels the local black market.
5. DIY and Home Production: Some black market products come from local, unlicensed individuals who mix or fill cartridges themselves. These homemade products may contain unknown or dangerous substances and are not subject to any safety testing or labeling regulations.
To combat these issues, I recommend the creation of the attached bill here in Maui County.
Aloha,
My name is Jody Glickman from Wailuku, Maui. I am the instructional coach at an elementary school here in Maui and a mother of four. I support Bill 156 to can flavored tobacco products. We have found students as young as 8 years old vaping at our school for the past two years. I have taken away multiple vapes from my fifteen year old in my own home where no one else smokes. Children are attracted to the flavors of vapes as I have seen my daughter’s texts to other teens requesting particular flavors. I do not believe my child or others would have a problem with this drug if it was not for the fun, delicious smelling flavors. Please, for the sake of our keiki, ban the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Aloha,
My name is Kristin Mills and I live in Pukalani. As a parent and health educator, I am in strong support of Bill 156, to ban the sale and marketing of all flavored tobacco products. As a Public Health Educator, I work hard to encourage folks of all ages, esp kids, to live healthier and stay away from harmful substances. But education isn’t enough. Historically, strong public health policies have been at the forefront to help protect people from harms, especially our keiki.
Before the law prohibiting tobacco use in restaurants, businesses etc, we had much higher tobacco use rates. Policies work!
Once again, we need Maui County to protect our youth against the harms of tobacco products by passing a policy banning flavored tobacco product sales and marketing in Maui County.
Youth love their sweets. Further, it’s normal for youth (esp teens) to “explore and try” new things. This exploration though shouldn’t lead to a lifelong addiction and multiple harms to the body and brain because what they are exploring with is: (1) addictive, and (2) negatively affecting their still-developing brain. And these flavored tobacco products, with over 15,000 flavors to choose from, definitely are meant to attract our Hawaii youth! Here’s just a few examples of flavored vapes… Hawaiian POG, Ono Orange Cream, Hawaiian Sweet Roll, and Halawa Guava. What age group do YOU think these are marketed for?
Now for some data: Hawaii has among the highest rates of middle school and high school e-cigarette (ESD) use in the nation:
o 48% (nearly half) of HS students and 31% of MS students have tried vapes (averaging to 36.6% of all teens in Maui County).
o 90% of youth started using tobacco BEFORE 18 (95% before age 21).
o 80% or youth reported starting vaping with a flavored product. 87.6% of regular users use flavored products.
o Age 13… is the age many youth took their first puff at.
The flavors attract kids… the nicotine addicts them. And the health effects are numerous!
o Nicotine addiction negatively affects kids’ memory, attention, and ability to focus and learn at school.
o It negatively affects their physical health AND their mental/emotional health, including anxiety,
o It affects their relationships.
o It affects their self-confidence.
o Once youth become addicted to nicotine, it’s very difficult to quit.
o One form of addiction increases the odds of becoming addicted to other substances.
We need a flavor ban for all tobacco flavors, including menthol and other minty flavors.
Let’s be part of the solution. Please support Bill 156 and prohibit the sale of ALL flavored tobacco products in Maui County! Please protect our keiki from a life of addiction as well as the multiple harms to the body, brain, and mental/emotional health. Over 360 other localities have already restricted the sale of flavored tobacco products. Let’s add Maui County to that list.
Please prohibit sales and marketing of flavored tobacco. Our children have enough health issues to deal with, without being lured by candy-flavored nicotine products. Our children, and our adults, all deserve better. Let's protect our community.
Thank you, Marie Fitzsimons.
Flavored tobacco products are intended to hide nicotine flavor or odor. Keep people safe from cancer. Please pass this bill, so we can be ready to enforce it when pre-emption is cancelled. Please read Bill 156 and pass it.
a concerned resident of Maui county
As a middle school teacher, I have witnessed firsthand the growing problem of vape use among our students. It has become alarmingly common, with many students using vapes on school grounds or even in classrooms, making it incredibly difficult to regulate and keep our students safe. The flavored vapes are particularly appealing to young people, as they mask the harshness of nicotine and create a false sense of harmlessness. By banning flavored vapes, we would remove one of the key factors driving youth experimentation and addiction, helping protect our students from the harmful effects of nicotine and the long-term health risks associated with vaping. A flavor ban would make it harder for students to access these products and create a healthier, safer environment for our youth.
I strongly support bill 156 to prohibit sales and marketing flavored tobacco products and misleading advertising of nicotine-free products. As a homegrown Lana'i resident and as a community health worker, I've seen the detrimental and harmful effects it has on our community as a whole and especially amongst our youth. I am also a Health Educator, and we've used ESD Vaping Prevention curriculum and toolkit from Stanford University to bring education and awareness to our youth. We've had reports of keiki (youth) ages 7+ through middle/high school at Lana'i High and Elementary school using flavored e-cigarette products. The sweet flavors and trendy/tech products entice youth to try these products. Students have shared that parents, relatives, friends and peers encourage them to use these products. Adults and parents are being deceived and misinformed by false advertising about flavored tobacco products (e-cigs) being nicotine-free. We must end the sale of these products because youth are now needing intervention because addiction/exposure to these products are already starting at a very young age. Our youth and their brains are still developing, and flavored tobacco use will further increase our health disparities in Maui County and Hawai'i state.
Please join us in banning these harmful products statewide and ensuring the health and wellbeing of Hawai'i and its future generations.
Mahalo,
- Thessalonica Sandi, CHW
I strongly support the Bill 156 2024. As an educator and a parent, I am committed to save our children's lives from the harmful effects of flavored tobacco products. I want our community and our children to be healthy and be protected from addiction because "children are the hope for our future". Therefore, I want to ban flavored tobacco products/substances and prohibit the sale and marketing as well as mislabeling. Please support Bill 156. Mahalo Nu'i.
Chair Sinenci, Vice Chair Johnson and members of the Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee:
I am in strong support of Bill 156 to prohibit flavored tobacco products and mislabeling. As a Registered Nurse and Public Health graduate, I have seen the negative effects of these products in our communities. The data and numbers are clear indications that we need to keep our keiki a priority over profit.
Here are some things you should be very concerned about:
• More than 95% of adult smokers started before they turned 21. FDA 2024
• 36.6% of teens in Maui County tried e-cigarettes in 2021, surpassing the Hawaiʻi State average (32.4%). 2021 YRBS
• Flavors in tobacco products entice youth, while the nicotine keeps them hooked for life. In 2024, 8 in 10 youth who currently use e-cigarettes reported using a flavored product (National Youth Tobacco Survey). Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products will reduce the appeal of these products and protect our keiki from a lifetime of addiction.
• Flavored products are driving this epidemic, where 87.6% of youth e-cigarette users use flavored products. FDA 2024
• Maui has the highest rate of teen cigarette smokers who smoke menthol cigarettes (18.5%), surpassing the Hawai‘i State average (15.8%). 2021 YRBS
• Menthol is just as, if not more, harmful than any other flavor in tobacco. Notorious for its ability to mask the harshness of tobacco, menthol makes it easier to start and harder to quit. If our aim is to protect our keiki and reduce the burden of tobacco in our communities, we must include menthol.
• Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco will advance health equity – disparities in tobacco use are due to the tobacco industry’s history of marketing menthol cigarettes to youth and people of color. In Hawai‘i, 80% of Native Hawaiian smokers and 70% of Filipino smokers use menthol cigarettes (Hawai‘i BRFSS, 2022). Mint and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes are the most popular flavors among youth.
• Big Tobacco knows that in order to have customers for life, they need to addict kids to nicotine when they are young.
• At the local level, over 360 localities restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Please join the rest of the counties in the quest to improve the health and quality of life for our future generations. Don't make the high incidence of youth vaping your legacy. Please support Bill 156.
I fully support this bill, as I am committed to protecting our keiki from the dangers of flavored tobacco products. As a concerned parent, I believe it’s essential to limit young people's exposure to these products, which are often marketed in ways that appeal to youth and may mislead them about the risks. Prohibiting the sale and marketing of flavored tobacco products, as well as preventing the mislabeling of items as nicotine-free, is a crucial step toward reducing the appeal and accessibility of harmful substances to our children. By supporting this bill, we’re helping to ensure a healthier future for Hawaii’s next generation.
Aloha,
I support Bill 156 (2024) as flavors in tobacco products entice youth, while the nicotine keeps them hooked for life. In 2024, 8 in 10 youth who currently use e-cigarettes reported using a flavored product (National Youth Tobacco Survey). Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products will reduce the appeal of these products and protect our keiki from a lifetime of addiction. Please take the time to protect our keiki who are our future. -Stephanie HI
I am in support of Bill 156 (2024). As a Family Nurse Practitioner, I see firsthand the effects of addictive and harmful substances in the community. Tobacco products are a health issue with a direct impact on health and wellness. Prohibiting the sale of all flavored commercial tobacco products will advance public health, reduce health inequalities, and save lives. Please pass Bill 156. Mahalo. Maria Moreno-Chow, DNP, FNP-BC
I am in strong support of Bill 156 (2024). As a Social Worker and (Episcopal) Priest/ Vicar, I know, firsthand, about the long-time negative effects of substances, both legal and illegal, on our community. Such negative and impacting effects are intergenerational. Now enters "flavored tobacco". This substance's entry into the panoply of addictive and harmful substances in our community is, in more ways than one, tragic and contributing to the dysfunctional continuum of our relationships among and relating to one another. Please pass this Bill.
Aloha me ka 'oia'i'o,
John A. H. Tomoso +, MSW, ACSW
808-280-1749
john.a.h.tomoso@gmail.com
1 Ku'ula St., Kahului, Maui Hawai'i, 96732-2906
Aloha,
Please find attached a copy of Papa Ola Lōkahiʻs testimony in support of Bill 156.
Mahalo.
Keʻōpū Reelitz
Director of Policy & Strategy
Aloha, as a tobacco treatment specialist for the last 20 years, I am sorry to say that we have a new generation that are currently impacted by flavors in tobacco. The flavors entice youth, while the nicotine keeps them hooked for life. In 2024 8 in 10 youth who currently use e-cigarettes reported using flavored products. Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products will reduce the appeal of these products and protect our keiki from a lifetime of addiction. Mahalo for considering Bill 156.
Aloha,
I am a mother and community member who lives in Kula. I am a children's law and policy consultant and my work includes a focus on the health and well-being of our keiki. I urge you to pass Bill 156 and stop the sale and marketing of flavored tobacco products and the mislabeling of products.
The testimony already submitted includes compelling personal stories and data. It is clear that our parents, healthcare providers, public health experts, and adults who work with youth understand how dangerous these products are and want them out of our community.
I hope you will listen to the community and prioritize the health of our keiki by passing this bill.
Sincerely,
Karen Worthington
I live in Wailuku Maui and I strongly support this bill. We, you, as our elected officials, need to protect our Maui Youth. The data speaks for itself and shows you, point black, that there is a problem with our children vaping on Maui. Vapes have infiltrated our schools and are even surfacing in elementary schools now - including Hana, Lanai, and Molokai. It's all over. As a parent, I am struggling to try to keep my children on the right path - away from vapes, away from drugs. Please help us parents and help in giving our Maui youth a fighting chance. To learn that 8 in 10 youth that use vapes started with a flavored product is shocking and makes me wonder, why would you not ban it? If this is the hook and possibly the gateway, as parents, leaders, community members, elected officials, you should want to protect the future of Maui. For these reasons, I strongly support Bill 156 and the ban of flavored vapes.
This is an important measure that will protect the health of the public, especially its vulnerable populations. Thank you.
Our youth must be protected from those put profits above their health!
My name is Edward Codelia, I fully support Bill 156 but do propose some amendments to strengthen the ordinance (SEE ATTACHED). The rising use of vape products among underage individuals and the increasing availability of unregulated products here in Maui make stricter regulations necessary. By limiting the sale and transport of electronic and smokeless vape products to licensed distributors, you can ensure better compliance with age restrictions and product safety standards. These amendments would help Maui County effectively manage the distribution of vape products and ensure they meet safety requirements. The inclusion of specific language for vape products, alongside other flavored tobacco products, would close loopholes that currently allow harmful products to be sold. I believe This ordinance supports public health by reducing the availability of unregulated and potentially dangerous products. I urge the Council to pass Bill 156 with these critical amendments to protect the health of Maui County residents.
Secondly, please create a bill (SEE ATTACHED) that would address black market vape products. If you are not aware, there is a black market for vape products, and it has become a significant issue in Maui County. There are many individuals on Maui that are selling these black market products and or making their own vape product and selling them on the streets of Maui.
The Philippines also plays a significant role in the black market for vape products in Hawaii and on Maui. The Philippines has seen increased production and distribution of unregulated vape items. These products often bypass quality controls, including those ensuring safe levels of nicotine and eliminating harmful additives.
The Philippines’ black market vape production affects both its own population and foreign markets, more specifically, our State, presenting public health risks due to unregulated and potentially hazardous ingredients.
Black market vape products come from a variety of sources. Some of which are:
1. Overseas Manufacturers: Many black market vape products are sourced from manufacturers in countries with less stringent regulations, such as China. These manufacturers can produce vape cartridges, e-liquids, and devices at lower costs, often skirting quality and safety standards. They are then shipped to the U.S. and sold illegally online or through in-person networks.
2. Counterfeit Products: Popular brands like JUUL and Puff Bar are frequently counterfeited, and these fake products make their way into the black market. Counterfeiters replicate the packaging and branding of well-known vape products but fill them with potentially harmful ingredients or substances, sometimes without any nicotine control or quality assurance.
3. Online Marketplaces and Social Media: Some illicit vape products are distributed through online platforms and social media channels. Sellers often target platforms where they can easily reach youth and avoid regulatory oversight. These transactions bypass age restrictions, taxes, and quality checks.
4. Out-of-State Purchases and Resale: In areas with vape restrictions, individuals often purchase products legally in other states with fewer regulations and then resell them illegally in regions with stricter laws. This kind of interstate “gray market” fuels the local black market.
5. DIY and Home Production: Some black market products come from local, unlicensed individuals who mix or fill cartridges themselves. These homemade products may contain unknown or dangerous substances and are not subject to any safety testing or labeling regulations.
To combat these issues, I recommend the creation of the attached bill here in Maui County.
Aloha,
My name is Jody Glickman from Wailuku, Maui. I am the instructional coach at an elementary school here in Maui and a mother of four. I support Bill 156 to can flavored tobacco products. We have found students as young as 8 years old vaping at our school for the past two years. I have taken away multiple vapes from my fifteen year old in my own home where no one else smokes. Children are attracted to the flavors of vapes as I have seen my daughter’s texts to other teens requesting particular flavors. I do not believe my child or others would have a problem with this drug if it was not for the fun, delicious smelling flavors. Please, for the sake of our keiki, ban the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Aloha,
My name is Kristin Mills and I live in Pukalani. As a parent and health educator, I am in strong support of Bill 156, to ban the sale and marketing of all flavored tobacco products. As a Public Health Educator, I work hard to encourage folks of all ages, esp kids, to live healthier and stay away from harmful substances. But education isn’t enough. Historically, strong public health policies have been at the forefront to help protect people from harms, especially our keiki.
Before the law prohibiting tobacco use in restaurants, businesses etc, we had much higher tobacco use rates. Policies work!
Once again, we need Maui County to protect our youth against the harms of tobacco products by passing a policy banning flavored tobacco product sales and marketing in Maui County.
Youth love their sweets. Further, it’s normal for youth (esp teens) to “explore and try” new things. This exploration though shouldn’t lead to a lifelong addiction and multiple harms to the body and brain because what they are exploring with is: (1) addictive, and (2) negatively affecting their still-developing brain. And these flavored tobacco products, with over 15,000 flavors to choose from, definitely are meant to attract our Hawaii youth! Here’s just a few examples of flavored vapes… Hawaiian POG, Ono Orange Cream, Hawaiian Sweet Roll, and Halawa Guava. What age group do YOU think these are marketed for?
Now for some data: Hawaii has among the highest rates of middle school and high school e-cigarette (ESD) use in the nation:
o 48% (nearly half) of HS students and 31% of MS students have tried vapes (averaging to 36.6% of all teens in Maui County).
o 90% of youth started using tobacco BEFORE 18 (95% before age 21).
o 80% or youth reported starting vaping with a flavored product. 87.6% of regular users use flavored products.
o Age 13… is the age many youth took their first puff at.
The flavors attract kids… the nicotine addicts them. And the health effects are numerous!
o Nicotine addiction negatively affects kids’ memory, attention, and ability to focus and learn at school.
o It negatively affects their physical health AND their mental/emotional health, including anxiety,
o It affects their relationships.
o It affects their self-confidence.
o Once youth become addicted to nicotine, it’s very difficult to quit.
o One form of addiction increases the odds of becoming addicted to other substances.
We need a flavor ban for all tobacco flavors, including menthol and other minty flavors.
Let’s be part of the solution. Please support Bill 156 and prohibit the sale of ALL flavored tobacco products in Maui County! Please protect our keiki from a life of addiction as well as the multiple harms to the body, brain, and mental/emotional health. Over 360 other localities have already restricted the sale of flavored tobacco products. Let’s add Maui County to that list.
Thank you,
Kristin Mills, PhD-ABD
Please prohibit sales and marketing of flavored tobacco. Our children have enough health issues to deal with, without being lured by candy-flavored nicotine products. Our children, and our adults, all deserve better. Let's protect our community.
Thank you, Marie Fitzsimons.
Flavored tobacco products are intended to hide nicotine flavor or odor. Keep people safe from cancer. Please pass this bill, so we can be ready to enforce it when pre-emption is cancelled. Please read Bill 156 and pass it.
a concerned resident of Maui county
As a middle school teacher, I have witnessed firsthand the growing problem of vape use among our students. It has become alarmingly common, with many students using vapes on school grounds or even in classrooms, making it incredibly difficult to regulate and keep our students safe. The flavored vapes are particularly appealing to young people, as they mask the harshness of nicotine and create a false sense of harmlessness. By banning flavored vapes, we would remove one of the key factors driving youth experimentation and addiction, helping protect our students from the harmful effects of nicotine and the long-term health risks associated with vaping. A flavor ban would make it harder for students to access these products and create a healthier, safer environment for our youth.
HSTA Supports. Please see attached testimony.
Aloha,
I strongly support bill 156 to prohibit sales and marketing flavored tobacco products and misleading advertising of nicotine-free products. As a homegrown Lana'i resident and as a community health worker, I've seen the detrimental and harmful effects it has on our community as a whole and especially amongst our youth. I am also a Health Educator, and we've used ESD Vaping Prevention curriculum and toolkit from Stanford University to bring education and awareness to our youth. We've had reports of keiki (youth) ages 7+ through middle/high school at Lana'i High and Elementary school using flavored e-cigarette products. The sweet flavors and trendy/tech products entice youth to try these products. Students have shared that parents, relatives, friends and peers encourage them to use these products. Adults and parents are being deceived and misinformed by false advertising about flavored tobacco products (e-cigs) being nicotine-free. We must end the sale of these products because youth are now needing intervention because addiction/exposure to these products are already starting at a very young age. Our youth and their brains are still developing, and flavored tobacco use will further increase our health disparities in Maui County and Hawai'i state.
Please join us in banning these harmful products statewide and ensuring the health and wellbeing of Hawai'i and its future generations.
Mahalo,
- Thessalonica Sandi, CHW
I strongly support the Bill 156 2024. As an educator and a parent, I am committed to save our children's lives from the harmful effects of flavored tobacco products. I want our community and our children to be healthy and be protected from addiction because "children are the hope for our future". Therefore, I want to ban flavored tobacco products/substances and prohibit the sale and marketing as well as mislabeling. Please support Bill 156. Mahalo Nu'i.
Chair Sinenci, Vice Chair Johnson and members of the Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee:
I am in strong support of Bill 156 to prohibit flavored tobacco products and mislabeling. As a Registered Nurse and Public Health graduate, I have seen the negative effects of these products in our communities. The data and numbers are clear indications that we need to keep our keiki a priority over profit.
Here are some things you should be very concerned about:
• More than 95% of adult smokers started before they turned 21. FDA 2024
• 36.6% of teens in Maui County tried e-cigarettes in 2021, surpassing the Hawaiʻi State average (32.4%). 2021 YRBS
• Flavors in tobacco products entice youth, while the nicotine keeps them hooked for life. In 2024, 8 in 10 youth who currently use e-cigarettes reported using a flavored product (National Youth Tobacco Survey). Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products will reduce the appeal of these products and protect our keiki from a lifetime of addiction.
• Flavored products are driving this epidemic, where 87.6% of youth e-cigarette users use flavored products. FDA 2024
• Maui has the highest rate of teen cigarette smokers who smoke menthol cigarettes (18.5%), surpassing the Hawai‘i State average (15.8%). 2021 YRBS
• Menthol is just as, if not more, harmful than any other flavor in tobacco. Notorious for its ability to mask the harshness of tobacco, menthol makes it easier to start and harder to quit. If our aim is to protect our keiki and reduce the burden of tobacco in our communities, we must include menthol.
• Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco will advance health equity – disparities in tobacco use are due to the tobacco industry’s history of marketing menthol cigarettes to youth and people of color. In Hawai‘i, 80% of Native Hawaiian smokers and 70% of Filipino smokers use menthol cigarettes (Hawai‘i BRFSS, 2022). Mint and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes are the most popular flavors among youth.
• Big Tobacco knows that in order to have customers for life, they need to addict kids to nicotine when they are young.
• At the local level, over 360 localities restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Please join the rest of the counties in the quest to improve the health and quality of life for our future generations. Don't make the high incidence of youth vaping your legacy. Please support Bill 156.
Mahalo,
Shelly Ogata, RN, MPH
I fully support this bill, as I am committed to protecting our keiki from the dangers of flavored tobacco products. As a concerned parent, I believe it’s essential to limit young people's exposure to these products, which are often marketed in ways that appeal to youth and may mislead them about the risks. Prohibiting the sale and marketing of flavored tobacco products, as well as preventing the mislabeling of items as nicotine-free, is a crucial step toward reducing the appeal and accessibility of harmful substances to our children. By supporting this bill, we’re helping to ensure a healthier future for Hawaii’s next generation.
Aloha,
I support Bill 156 (2024) as flavors in tobacco products entice youth, while the nicotine keeps them hooked for life. In 2024, 8 in 10 youth who currently use e-cigarettes reported using a flavored product (National Youth Tobacco Survey). Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products will reduce the appeal of these products and protect our keiki from a lifetime of addiction. Please take the time to protect our keiki who are our future. -Stephanie HI
I am in support of Bill 156 (2024). As a Family Nurse Practitioner, I see firsthand the effects of addictive and harmful substances in the community. Tobacco products are a health issue with a direct impact on health and wellness. Prohibiting the sale of all flavored commercial tobacco products will advance public health, reduce health inequalities, and save lives. Please pass Bill 156. Mahalo. Maria Moreno-Chow, DNP, FNP-BC
Aloha kākou,
I am in strong support of Bill 156 (2024). As a Social Worker and (Episcopal) Priest/ Vicar, I know, firsthand, about the long-time negative effects of substances, both legal and illegal, on our community. Such negative and impacting effects are intergenerational. Now enters "flavored tobacco". This substance's entry into the panoply of addictive and harmful substances in our community is, in more ways than one, tragic and contributing to the dysfunctional continuum of our relationships among and relating to one another. Please pass this Bill.
Aloha me ka 'oia'i'o,
John A. H. Tomoso +, MSW, ACSW
808-280-1749
john.a.h.tomoso@gmail.com
1 Ku'ula St., Kahului, Maui Hawai'i, 96732-2906