NAACP + CM Cabrera to Urge Council Speaker Johnson to Act on Delayed Menthol Restrictions

NEW YORK, NY (03/05/2020) (readMedia)-- On Thursday, members of the NAACP, including multiple branch presidents, and Councilman Cabrera will join together to urge Speaker Corey Johnson to pass Intro 1345--legislation supported by the vast majority of the City Council that will restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes in New York City. Governor Cuomo announced two weeks ago that he would not push legislation to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes. His refusal to back the State legislation leaves New York City on its own to protect its communities from menthol.

The City Council passed legislation banning flavored e-cigarettes four months ago, but a vote on legislation to protect kids and communities of color from easier-to-smoke harder-to-quit menthol cigarettes has been blocked by Speaker Johnson for more than a year. Two-thirds of the City Council and the majority of the Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus supports the legislation.

In New York City, 84.8 percent of Black adults and 63.8 percent of Latino adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes, as compared to 22.6 percent of white adults. More than half of youth smokers and seven-out-of-ten young African Americans smoke menthols. Studies have shown that menthols are more addictive than regular cigarettes, and that Big Tobacco purposely targeted African-American communities with aggressive marketing, leading to higher rates of smoking-related illnesses for black New Yorkers.