As parents, aunts, and uncles, we know the impacts of tobacco addiction on a personal level. We have watched as loved ones have struggled just to breathe. We have witnessed friends’ lives cut short by cancer and other devastating illnesses. We have worried as our own children’s schools have tried, over and over, to stop vaping in the bathrooms.
But it’s not just us. Take Victoria, a high school senior in the Denver area who used a fruit-flavored vape in a moment of curiosity. That curiosity quickly turned into a habit, then an addiction, as she used three or four vapes each week.
We have heard from dozens of students asking us to ban the sale of flavored tobacco. Tara, a Denver high school student, told us about the younger siblings of high schoolers, kids as young as six, seven, or eight, who try vaping.
There are countless such stories from youth across our community, drawn in by flavored products designed to appeal specifically to kids. Youth who vape are four times more likely to start smoking cigarettes within a year, according to the Colorado Department of Health. Tobacco and nicotine use are the number one cause of preventable and premature death in Colorado.
Brightly packaged in candy flavors, these products have sparked a health crisis. In 2023, the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey found that 6.9% of Denver high school students use tobacco products. Each year, more lives are lost while a new generation of young people is addicted before they even understand the risks.
The tobacco industry has known for decades that flavors attract kids. From 1950 Flintstones ads to Juul’s insidious social media, giant tobacco corporations have invested millions in marketing designed to lure in children while knowing that addictive nicotine severely harms brain and lung development.
Menthol, the “original” flavor, has caused devastation among communities of color, like Five Points, Whittier, Globeville, Elyria-Swansea, Park Hill, and Montbello, targeted with predatory advertising. The University of Colorado reports approximately 45,000 Black Americans prematurely die from tobacco-caused diseases every year. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Latinos and the second leading cause among Latinas, according to the American Cancer Society.
To remove these dangerous products from our shelves once and for all, we have introduced a City Council ordinance to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Denver. Together, we will break the tobacco industry’s cycle of addiction and stop the needless deaths of family members and friends. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (“NAACP”) reported that banning menthol alone could save an estimated 654,000 lives nationwide, including 255,000 Black lives, over the next 40 years.
We also understand that punishing kids for possession is not the answer. Our ordinance eliminates penalties for underage possession, shifting responsibility to the tobacco companies and retailers who profit from youth addiction. Studies show that punishing kids does nothing to reduce smoking rates and only stigmatizes those who are already suffering from addiction.
Our proposal is about a vision for a healthier, safer Denver shared by our community. Denver voters support ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, and 100 local organizations, including Children’s Hospital Colorado, Tepeyac Community Health Center, Denver Health, the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians and the Denver Board of Education have voiced their support.
We call on our Denver City Council colleagues to vote in favor of this ordinance and put Denverites’ health over tobacco industry profits. Together, we can halt the cycle of addiction, save lives, and create a Denver where every child is free to thrive, unshackled from the grip of tobacco and nicotine. By ending the sale of flavored tobacco in Denver, we are not only protecting kids like Victoria and Tara but also ensuring a healthier, brighter future for all.
Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez is an at-large member of the Denver City Council. Shontel M. Lewis represents District 8 on the City Council, and Darrell Watson represents District 9.
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