Students, Educators, and Parents Demand State Leg Include Flavored Tobacco Ban in Budget

ALBANY, NY (03/13/2023) (readMedia)-- On Monday, students and parents from Westchester and Long Island, members of the NYS PTA, NYS School Boards Association and New York School-Based Health Alliance, will join together to call on state lawmakers to end the sale of flavored tobacco in New York and increase the state's cigarette tax by $1. These proposals included in the Executive Budget will make tobacco products less appealing and more expensive for youth to prevent another generation falling victim to this deadly addiction.

According to the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 2.5 million kids across the country are using tobacco products. Of these youth, 85% of high school and 81% of middle school students use flavored products with fruit, candy/desserts/other sweets, mint, and menthol reported as the most popular flavors. Flavors are a marketing weapon used by tobacco manufacturers to target youth and young people to a lifetime of addiction.

Big Tobacco has preyed on communities of color for generations, hooking thousands of black smokers to a lifetime of addiction. Black teens prefer Newport cigarettes (a menthol brand). Half of young people (ages 12-17) who have ever tried smoking start with menthol-flavored cigarettes. In 2021, 41.1% of high school smokers reported using menthol cigarettes.