Flavored tobacco increases youth usage, according to LOCS documents

By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education adopted a resolution to support addressing a lack of effective statewide tobacco prevention policies during their meeting on Nov. 20.
The resolution was in support of the Protect Mi Kids bill package that includes eight bills, according to district documents.
If passed, Senate Bill 647 would allow “localities to pass stronger tobacco control measures,” while the next bill proposes a new tax on e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Revenue generated from the tax would be dedicated to tobacco prevention programs.
Senate Bills 649 and 650 aim to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products including flavored e-cigarettes and menthol-flavored cigarettes. The next two bills would require all establishments selling nicotine or tobacco products to obtain a license, and the final two would repeal provisions in the Youth Tobacco Act that impose civil and criminal penalties on minors for purchasing, using or possessing tobacco products, according to district documents.
Many students who vape report using e-cigarettes because they feel anxious, stressed or depressed, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“I am excited to actually pass the resolution and send it on to our legislators and encourage the support,” Trustee Birgit McQuiston said.
These documents also state flavored tobacco increases youth usage. More than 90% of high school students and more than 87% of middle school students who use e-cigarettes reported using a flavored e-cigarette because “they come in flavors I like.”
They also say cigarette companies have historically marketed menthol products disproportionately toward predominately black communities. Black adult smokers use menthol products at three times the rate of white adult smokers.
Board President Danielle Bresett brought up Joe Camel campaign, which the Federal Trade Commission alleged in 1997 was successful in appealing to those under 18, and persuaded young people to begin smoking or to continue smoking cigarettes.
“But yet we’re here and the government hasn’t stepped in,” Bresett said. “Which is mind boggling to me because they did it 27 years ago in a very similar scenario.”
The committee voted 5-3 in favor of the bill, but postponed reporting it to the senate floor, according to Superintendent Heidi Mercer.