Mike DeWine backs Columbus flavored tobacco ban
Frankie Madosky is a Columbus resident and a senior at Hamilton Township High School.
We don’t need to look far to be reminded that politics can be pretty dysfunctional. But here in Columbus over the past few weeks, I’ve seen something different: bipartisan leadership standing up against a powerful industry — on behalf of kids like me.
In December, the seven members of Columbus City Council and Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, all politically progressive Democrats, passed a law to end the sale of flavored tobacco.
Then, last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a conservative Republican, rescued the Columbus law from a state legislative override.
Our view:With much at risk, Mike DeWine must swim against divisive tide for Ohio’s good
This is very personal to me because, as a high school student, I see the negative impact that flavored tobacco has on young people.
When I learned that Columbus was considering a law to address flavored tobacco, I wanted to add my voice to the cause. I spoke at two city council hearings, during which I listened to testimony from others on both sides of the issue.
While I respected those who spoke in opposition to the proposal, it was frustrating to hear some of them say that flavored tobacco is marketed and sold only to adults over the age of 21. We all know that isn’t true.
I witness dangerous overuse of flavored vape products among my own friends and my own siblings. My school is overrun by flavored tobacco use in a way that has negatively impacted the experience for my classmates and me.
Alex T. Boehnke and Beth Wymer:Flavored tobacco ban wouldn’t work in ‘real world.’ It would ‘bust’ businesses| Opinion
It wasn’t always this way. As a freshman, students could ask to use the restroom without teachers worrying that they were sneaking off to use tobacco. But today, I can’t get a hall pass to leave the lunchroom without entering my time of departure and estimated return on a formal sign-out sheet.
As the governor said last week, flavored tobacco use has become a youth epidemic. Kids who aren’t old enough to legally purchase tobacco in Ohio are still buying flavored products, including menthol cigarettes, sweet cigarillos and especially flavored vapes. Kids use e-cigarettes on social media sites that are popular with their peers – convincing other young people that it’s cool and that they should try it.
E-cigarette companies would have us believe that their products are used by people trying to stop smoking. But more often, it’s the other way around. Young people get hooked on nicotine through flavored vapes and then move on to traditional cigarettes.
More:Juul to pay $438 million to Ohio, other states and promises marketing changes
The high percentage of nicotine in e-cigarettes leads to higher addiction levels. At a young, developing age, the brain is highly impressionable. Nicotine also changes the way synapses are
formed, which harms the parts of the brain that control attention and learning. In other words, tobacco and nicotine in any form are very harmful to kids.
After several hearings, the members of the City Council came to the same conclusion — flavored tobacco products are purposefully targeted at children and other at-risk populations, especially the Black community.
They decided that removing these products from our shelves would be an important step toward protecting future generations of all communities. And for those already addicted, the city created a public-private partnership with health and advocacy groups to increase options for and awareness of programs to help people stop using tobacco.
I stood and cheered in Columbus City Council Chambers when the ordinance was passed – but my excitement was short-lived. Less than three days later, the state legislature passed House Bill 513, which would prohibit Columbus and any other Ohio city from having their own laws regulating tobacco. It appeared that all of the time and energy we had spent on getting this done would be for nothing.
This guest column is available free:: Support the exchange of local and state ideas by subscribing to the Columbus Dispatch.
However, last week, Gov. DeWine vetoed House Bill 513, saying that communities that protect their residents from tobacco targeting should be applauded. The governor’s courageous action didn’t just preserve one city’s law intended to protect kids’ health. It sent a positive signal to the other communities in Ohio that are also looking to end the sale of flavored tobacco. And it offered proof that our elected leaders can work together on behalf of the common good, regardless of political party and ideology.
Young people are not apathetic or disengaged. We want to have faith in our institutions, and we want to believe that positive change can happen.
We want hope – and, happily, I now have a little more of that.
Frankie Madosky is a Columbus resident and a senior at Hamilton Township High School.