As of December 21, 2022, Proposition 31 has taken effect in California. The new law will further exacerbate one of the biggest public health problems prevalent in the United States: tobacco use.
Proposition 31 essentially upholds SB 793, a bill passed in August 2020 but never put in effect, which was designed to ban flavored tobacco products, flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes. This restriction will hurt businesses and the state government and, most importantly, leave nicotine users worse off physically and economically. Instead of eliminating alternatives to combustible cigarettes as a means for harm reduction, California and other states should remove flavor and e-cigarette bans.
Published in its entirety in Medium.