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CAFP Supports Colorado Flavor Ban

ByJoshua Foust

The Colorado Academy of Family Physicians has joined fourteen other organizations to support HB20-1319, which is a bipartisan measure to end the sale of flavored tobacco products in Colorado. The ban will apply to the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, cigars, menthol cigarettes, other flavored tobacco products, and products intended to be added to cigarettes, tobacco products, or nicotine products to produce a flavor other than tobacco.

CAFP has adopted this stance because Over 5.3 million kids in the U.S. now use e-cigarettes — 27.5% of high school students used e-cigarettes in 2019 compared to 11.3% in 2016. Flavors are driving the demand for use — 97% of youth e-cigarette users report using a flavored product, and 70% cite flavors as the reason for their use.

Moreover, there is no evidence that flavors play a role in helping adult smokers quit smoking, and no e-cigarette product is FDA-approved as a cessation device. While over 1 in 4 high school students use e-cigarettes, there has been minimal uptake among adults — in 2018, 3.2% of adults used e-cigarettes, compared to 2.8% in 2017 and 3.2% in 2016.

Ending the sale of flavored e-cigarettes eliminates a major source of e-cigarette demand among young people, and preserves the tobacco flavor for adults who wish to continue using e-cigarettes.

Read the press release about this legislation here. You can also read the legislation here, and there is a fact sheet as well.

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