Multnomah County commissioners took public input Monday night on their proposal to ban flavored tobacco products that could come up for a vote on Thursday morning.

Supporters of banning flavored vapes argued that the products are getting a new generation of teenagers and preteens addicted to nicotine, that flavored vapes are omnipresent in secondary schools, even though they’re illegal for anyone under 21, and that vaping products are more hazardous than manufacturers want people to believe.

Opponents of banning flavored tobacco told commissioners that a ban would fuel black market trade, undermine the ability of smokers to reduce their reliance on cigarettes and hurt retailers who sell flavored tobacco including hookah businesses.

County commissioners are pushing ahead with their proposal, despite a Washington County Circuit judge’s ruling earlier this fall that Washington County could not enforce a similar ban. Circuit Judge Andrew Erwin asserted that such a ban must come from the state.

Multnomah County commissioners will not vote on the proposal until its next meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 1. People can still submit written comments online and text of the proposed ordinance is available on the county’s website.

Health advocates, teenagers and parents have been pushing for years for the state to restrict sales of flavored vaping liquids and other tobacco products that appeal to youth, and Multnomah County officials are also concerned that tobacco manufacturers are targeting the products to people of color. But Democratic lawmakers killed a proposal to ban flavored vapes in 2019, and a Democratic senator who backed the statewide ban told The Oregonian/OregonLive that lobbyists for the Oregon Nurses Association and the political arm of the American Cancer Society pushed lawmakers to drop the flavored tobacco ban and instead focus on supporting a push to raise Oregon’s tobacco tax. Voters approved the tobacco tax hike in 2020.

A law passed by the Democratically controlled Legislature in 2021 is at issue in Washington County’s attempt to ban flavored tobacco products. The circuit court judge who ruled against the county on the ban cited Senate Bill 587, the 2021 law that gave public health agencies the authority to regulate tobacco sales, as the reason that only the state could ban flavored vapes.

Supporters of such bans, including American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, have said the Washington County judge’s ruling was wrong and does not prevent Multnomah County from adopting its own local prohibition on flavored tobacco.

During the hearing on Monday night, multiple physicians testified in support of the proposed ban. Pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Hoffman of Oregon Health & Science University said there is “no coincidence” that manufacturers offer vaping flavors like banana split, blueberry cake, Skittles, Curious George and Smurf. Hoffman said those flavors are aimed at hooking kids on tobacco. A pulmonologist testified about the destructive effects of vaping that she observed on a young patient’s lungs. And Dr. Phillip Gardiner, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, cited the disproportionate impacts of flavored tobacco use among Black people but also women, Latinos and other groups as reasons to support a ban.

A couple of people, including an employee of Portland Public Schools who works on substance use, also pointed out that vape use is so rampant in schools that some have had to remove doors of bathroom stalls to discourage it and the fruity smell of flavored vapes often fills school hallways.

At the same time, the owner of several tobacco products stores questioned why county commissioners are considering banning only flavored tobacco when other addictive products — such as flavored liquor and cannabis — are not being considered for a ban, although they also appeal to young users.

— Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com

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