New attempt to ban flavored tobacco products in Denver comes three years after veto — and change in mayor’s office

A trio of Denver City Council members are spearheading a proposal to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Denver, with a focus on blunting the appeal of nicotine products to young people with developing brains.

The effort comes three years after then-Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed a similar ban, following months of debate and intense lobbying on both sides of the issue, including from tobacco industry interests. That measure was crafted by a different lineup of council members.

“We think this is important because it’s a public health issue impacting our community,” Councilman Darrell Watson said simply on Monday after a committee hearing that previewed the proposal. He had helped lay out the specifics of the proposed ban, which — like its predecessor — would outlaw the sale of flavored vaporizer cartridges and a wide swath of other flavored products, including menthol cigarettes.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable and premature death in Colorado, Watson said, citing 2023 reporting by Colorado Public Radio.

Watson’s co-sponsors are Councilwomen Shontel Lewis and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. None of the three served on the council in 2021 when Hancock vetoed the previous bill. The council later came one vote short of mustering the nine necessary to overturn the veto.

Unlike his predecessor, Mayor Mike Johnston, who took office in mid-2023, has already committed to signing a flavored tobacco ban law if it makes it to his desk.

“It is critical that we protect the health of all Denverites, especially our youth,” mayoral spokeswoman Jordan Fuja said of Johnston’s position.

Monday’s meeting was only a briefing. The ban has a long way to go before it would face a final council vote. The next step for the planned proposal — a hearing before the council’s Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness committee — could come as soon as next week.

“Our goal is to hold the industry that profits from these products responsible, not young people who have been targeted and might already have been addicted,” Watson told his fellow council members.

If passed, legislation would:

• Ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, flavored tobacco used in hookah pipes, flavored chewing tobacco and nicotine pouches.
• Update city code to expand and clarify the definition of tobacco products to include all forms of nicotine delivery.
• Focus on enforcement that targets retailers, holding tobacco sale license holders responsible for violations rather than individual store clerks.

The enforcement regime the sponsors envision would start with a warning after a first violation. But after a second violation in a three-year period, a retailer’s license would be suspended for up to 30 days.

After a third violation in three years, the license would be suspended for up to 60 days. And a fourth violation during that period could result in a suspension of up to a year, Gonzales-Gutierrez said.

She said that while the ban would take effect 90 days after the ordinance passes, enforcement would not begin until Jan. 1, 2026.

When Hancock vetoed the previous measure, he echoed concerns from some opponents that it would harm small businesses in the city that rely on the sale of flavored vaping products. He also said young people would be able to obtain nicotine and vaping products elsewhere if only Denver acted; instead, he supported the idea of a statewide ban.

At the time, the inclusion of a ban on menthol cigarettes split advocates in the city’s Black community, since that flavored product long has been marketed to Black customers.

Monday’s briefing included an avalanche of facts and study results shared by supporters. Jodi Radke, the regional director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, highlighted products that appeal to teenagers and other youth, including vaporizers that are decorated to look like cartoon characters or flavored like apple juice.

“Ninety-fine percent of current adult tobacco users started before the age of 21, and the average age of initiation is between 12 and 14 years old,” Radke said. “And over 80% of those who initiate at that age do so because the product is flavored.”

Radke’s organization is among more than 50 health organizations that Watson counts as supporters thus far. He estimated he and his co-sponsors had conducted 25 meetings to provide stakeholder input.

Notably missing from Monday’s hearing was testimony from the tobacco industry or other likely opponents of the ban. That’s likely still to come.

Councilman Kevin Flynn, who voted against overturning Hancock’s veto in 2021, is poised to vote against this proposed ban, too. In his southwest Denver district, he said, it would be easy for any person to cross into another jurisdiction and buy flavored tobacco products, rendering the city’s ban meaningless.

“I’m just through telling … adults what they can buy,” he said. “If it’s a legal product, they ought to be able to buy it. I’m not going to tell them they can’t.”

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