Evanston’s City Council passed a ban on selling flavored tobacco products, including menthol, with a 6-3 vote last month despite concerns the ordinance would create unintentional consequences impacting the Black community.
The ordinance will go into effect on April 1, 2024, according to a memo prepared by Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo. The ban goes beyond just the sale of flavored tobacco products, it also extends to displaying and advertising the products. Possession of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, is still allowed without the intent to sell.
Repercussions for not complying with the ban include a fine of at least $500 for the first offense, $1,000 for the second offense within 24 months and revoking the violating establishment’s retail tobacco vendor license after the third violation within 24 months, the ordinance states.
Evanston’s ordinance is an effort to enhance community health and make it difficult for people — particularly the youth and those in Black communities — to get their hands on addictive materials, Councilmember Devon Reid told Pioneer Press when he first proposed the ordinance in May.
“Smoking behavior is disproportionately concentrated in Black neighborhoods,” Ogbo wrote in a memo. “(The census track with) the highest proportion of Black residents at 53.9% also (has) the highest proportion of residents who report being smokers at 20.2%. The implementation of the ban in Evanston has the potential to significantly reduce disease and death from tobacco product use.”
Agreeing with Ogbo’s statement, the American Lung Association wrote to the City Council supporting the ban due to health concerns, saying 1.4 million Illinoisans live with serious lung-related illnesses caused by tobacco use.
Councilmembers Krissie Harris, Thomas Suffredin and Reid voted against the ban for a variety of reasons including impact on retailers and a desire by Reid to ban all tobacco sales instead of just flavored tobacco in part to limit enforcement confusion.
“If we’re going to take this (larger) step, we might as well take the full measure,” Reid said.
Reid’s initial referral was only for e-cigarettes and menthol but all forms of flavored tobacco consumption, such as flavored cigars, were added in the final proposal.
“The big thing is … we’re looking at a double hit to these businesses (with potentially increasing the motor fuel tax as well),” Suffredin said. “We have to understand what we’re doing to these Evanston retailers.”
City Council meeting attendees were split in their position on the ban. While some attendees supported the ban for its community health benefits, others opposed it fearing increased police interactions, loose cigarette street sales and the economic impact on retailers.
“Banning flavored tobacco products does not work, users will obtain them by any means necessary,” Clyde McLemore, founder of the Black Lives Matter Lake County Chapter, said. “This will create an illegal market where cigarettes will be sold on the street … this will bring unnecessary contact with your law enforcement.”
McLemore said it will also incentivize customers to visit other municipalities, such as Skokie, where these flavored tobacco products can be obtained more easily. However, McLemore’s main concern is the potential increase in law enforcement interaction. He referenced other cities with a flavored tobacco product ban, such as New York City where street sales resulted in a fatality.
“I hate to be out here because someone was killed by law enforcement for buying single cigarettes,” McLemore said. “Have we forgot about Eric Garner who was killed by strangulation from a New York police officer? He was stopped for selling single cigarettes.”
Garner died in July 2014 after selling loose cigarettes in New York resulting in him being strangled by a police officer. His story is resurfacing as legislators across the country debate bans on flavored tobacco products, including menthol.
The United States Food and Drug Administration proposed a federal ban in 2022 and while a decision was expected to come earlier this month, President Joe Biden delayed the decision, according to The New York Times. National-level activists are raising the same racial equity concerns McLemore expressed to the Evanston City Council at its Nov. 27 meeting.
More Top Picks Best Paracord Kits For Survival
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, wrote to United States Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer on Nov. 9 expressing her concerns about the federal ban, which focuses on menthol. The FDA’s proposal aims to combat health-related concerns in the Black community via menthol cigarettes due to 85% of non-Hispanic Black smokers preferring menthol versus 30% in non-Hispanic white smokers, according to federal data. Carr wrote to Schumer saying while the federal proposal in Washington has good intentions, it doesn’t consider the possible consequences.
“We have seen the dangerous interactions that can occur when the sale of loose cigarettes is criminalized, as was tragically the case with my son, Eric,” Carr wrote. “I am afraid that well-intentioned policies, without thorough and inclusive study, may ultimately serve to make systemic inequities worse.”
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.