Denver voters will weigh in on flavored tobacco ban after ballot petition found sufficient

Denver voters will be asked whether they want to keep or overturn the city’s ban on flavored tobacco after the Denver Elections Division found that a ballot petition by opponents had enough signatures.

If voters reject the ban, it would roll back a near-unanimous vote of the City Council in December to prohibit sales of nearly all flavored tobacco and nicotine products in the city. Council members sided with public health and children’s advocates who argued the products lure young children into using an addictive product.

In March, a coalition of Denver vape stores called “Citizen Power!” submitted 17,000 signatures in hopes of landing on the ballot. The city had 25 days to verify that at least 9,494 of them came from eligible voters.

Ben Warwick, a spokesman for the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office, said Wednesday that the petition had been declared sufficient. The office is waiting until a protest period ends Friday to notify the council.

The ballot question, as stated on the petition, asks voters whether they want to retain the ordinance. It will be up to the council to determine the election date; the next regular election is Nov. 4.

In a statement about the ballot question, one member of the coalition — vape store owner Phil Guerin — called the ban “misguided” and said it would “bankrupt hundreds of small family-owned and minority-owned businesses.”

“This ban is an attack on family-owned businesses already struggling with rising costs and inflation,” said Guerin, the owner of Myxed Up Creations. “It won’t stop people from buying these products — it will just send them to Lakewood and Aurora, leaving Denver businesses and the city’s economy to suffer.”

Tobacco companies and groups representing retailers of the products mounted a significant lobbying effort when the council was considering the ban. It largely fell on deaf ears and only one council member, Kevin Flynn, voted against it.

Flynn said he believed the ban would create a black market for the products. However, Denver police officials told the council that they weren’t worried about that possibility in March.

The new law, which took effect March 18, requires retailers to remove flavored tobacco products from shelves, including e-cigarettes, vaporizer cartridges and nicotine pouches as well as menthol cigarettes.

The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment is set to begin “soft enforcement” of the law July 1, said Ryann Money, a spokesman for the department. At that point, retailers found to be out of compliance with the law will receive a written warning.

On Jan. 1, DDPHE plans to begin issuing fines and license suspensions for retailers found selling flavored tobacco products.

“DDPHE will continue education and outreach to retailers during this transition,” Money said in an email.

In 2021, a previous iteration of the council also approved a flavored tobacco ban. Then-Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed the decision, though, citing the negative impact on small businesses. Last year, Mayor Mike Johnston signed off on the new ban ordinance.

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