As another serious and deadly emergency, health experts and activists have cataloged the tricks that the tobacco industry carries out to introduce young people to nicotine. One of the great maneuvers of this industry is to add different flavors to tobacco and abandon the design of the traditional cigarette to present a new image in colorful packaging and in small devices that look like computer memories, school supplies, pencils, pencil sharpeners, etc.
To lower the price, these devices are sold individually in liquor stores located near schools and in places where low-income families reside. According to recent studies, in the cities of Antioch and Pittsburg there is a high percentage of small merchant stores; they are usually liquor stores located in places frequented by youth. In Pittsburg, the 150% and in Antioch the 97%, of these small merchants sell tobacco to which different flavors are added. In both cities there are three times more liquor stores than schools.
“This is not only a health problem, but also a social problem,” said Odette Kelley of the alternative media organization Global MediaX. Chairing a recent meeting with experts and activists from the Bay Area, Keeley said that this cluster of stores selling flavored tobacco “gives a lot of accessibility to young people to buy these products”, that is why “it is important to create awareness when licenses are issued to small liquor and tobacco merchants, ”he added.
The tobacco industry makes big profits by hooking young people into consume nicotine in different flavors. Experts denounced that tobacco companies are especially targeting young people from low-income communities by adding flavors inspired by sweets and candies that are familiar and attractive to them. They also use colored wrapping and packaging, disguised as tech gadgets. But at the end of the day, aromatic nicotine is the same nicotine that causes cancer.
Menthol cigarettes and flavored small cigars have been a leading cause of death and illness in the African American community. 85% of African American smokers smoke menthol cigarettes such as Kool and Newport . Menthol is less irritating to the respiratory system, masks the harsh taste of tobacco, and allows the smoker to breathe in more nicotine and more toxins by inhaling more deeply. Menthol is an effective hook; young people who smoke menthol find it more difficult to quit smoking and are more prone to addiction for life.
“Those are the reasons why these products have to be expelled from our communities… These products they are the number one killer of African Americans, ”said Dr. Phillip Gardiner, vice president of the African American Council for Tobacco Control. According to Gardiner, the state assembly will discuss a new bill (SB 793) to ban the sale of flavored tobacco, in November of 2022. “How big the problem will be!” Exclaimed Gardiner.
Contra Costa County Public Health Director Dr. Ori Tzvieli said steam smoking devices are “super attractive for youth ”, adding that in recent years 12 years, the commodification of flavored vapor has not been regulated, despite the fact that a vaporizer (also known as an electronic cigarette) produces more nicotine than a pack of 20 cigars.
“So far this year, four out of five young people who use tobacco they have started smoking some flavored product, almost a 97% . Among middle school students, the most common flavors are fruit, candy and mint flavors, ”said Tzvieli.
The law requires the tobacco industry to sell cigarettes in packets of To twenty. But there is no law for cigars of various sizes. This allows small stores to sell products at a lower price. “A young man who does not have $ 10 To buy a pack, you may have 50 pennies or a dollar. It is very attractive to have these products at a very low price ”, said Tzvieli.
The situation is unfair for low-income families. “A child who has grown up in a predominantly white and wealthy suburb, such as Danville and Lafayette, is less likely to be exposed to tobacco outlets than a child born in Concord or Antioch. We see this as an issue of inequality in our county, ”said Ali Wohlgemuth, Richmond Bay Area Community Resource Programming Director.
In Antioch, one in three schools is located at just a thousand feet (a walk of less than three minutes) from a warehouse where tobacco is sold. 97% of these stores sell flavored tobacco wrapped in attractive packaging that they call attention. In some cases, they are cheaper than candy.
Dr. John Chung, executive director of the Community Health for Asian Americans in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, said that most of the deaths cancer among Asian Americans is due to lung cancer. This is an issue that, he says, has to do with racial justice: “addictive substances have been used to destroy entire communities, even countries … The targeted market and sale of drugs has been a form of war against oppressed communities and vulnerable. ”
When tobacco sales began to decline in the United States,“ they forced the sale of tobacco in Asian countries. This resulted in a massive growth in the smoking rate in Asia where US cigarette consumption increased by 600% Chung said.