Criminal justice reform groups urge FDA to reconsider ban on flavored tobacco products 

A coalition of leading criminal justice reform groups has sent a letter to President Biden slamming the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed ban on flavored tobacco products, warning it will lead to more overpolicing in communities of color. 

In the letter, more than 50 organizations — including Blacks in Law Enforcement, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Latino Officers Association and the Sentencing Project — said prohibition-style policies “have serious racial justice implications.”

“Banning the legal sale of menthol cigarettes through licensed businesses will lead — and, in fact, has already led in some states — to illegal, unlicensed distribution in communities of color, while triggering criminal laws in all 50 states, increasing the incidence of negative interactions with police, and ultimately increasing incarceration rates,” the letter said. 

“There are far better solutions for reducing menthol cigarette use than criminalizing these products and turning this issue over to the police,” it continues.

The FDA proposed the ban in April 2022 in the hopes of reducing tobacco-related deaths and diseases. The administration also hoped such a ban would stop younger people from purchasing the products and increase the number of users trying to quit. 

“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said at the time.

“Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities,” he added.

In 2019, more than 18.5 million smokers used menthol cigarettes, with smokers as young as 12, according to the FDA. The numbers were particularly high with youth and young adults, as well as in African American and other racial and ethnic groups.

Organizations such as the NAACP and Congressional Black Caucus, however, have voiced their support for the FDA’s proposal — which focuses mainly on the manufacturing of flavored tobacco products.

But the coalition warned that banning such products will only lead to increased policing in Black and other communities of color, and it also won’t ease the demand for such products. Instead, the letter said, a ban will create an illicit and unregulated market for these items. 

The letter to Biden said the organizations agree with the FDA’s mission to reduce the use of menthol products, particularly among youth, but counter that the focus should instead be on harm reduction. 

“FDA has the power to provide smokers with less harmful options and information to help accelerate reductions in smoking,” the letter stated. “Rushing forward with a total ban without these alternatives in place contradicts everything we know — and everything the Administration has been saying in other spheres — about why harm reduction works and criminalization doesn’t.”

The groups closed by urging the FDA to reconsider the proposed ban to instead find solutions opposed to criminalization, which the groups said will “undoubtedly” lead to adverse law enforcement consequences for communities of color.