Think tank warns against menthol ban

Banning menthol tobacco products is ineffective as a tool to reduce youth tobacco use, and it eliminates adult choices, according to a “policy tip sheet,” written by Lindsey Stroud, state government relations manager at The Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank.

Due to an uptick in youth use of vapor tobacco products, U.S. policymakers are seeking to ban menthol in all other tobacco products including combustible cigarettes and smokeless and snus products.

Stroud argues that banning menthol would eliminate more than $130 billion in revenue over the next 10 years and create “huge black markets.” According to Stroud, a quarter of menthol smokers say they would find a way to purchase menthol cigarettes, even if it meant doing so illegally.

Because a large proportion of African Americans smoke menthol cigarettes, a menthol ban would likely also create more dubious interactions between police and minorities, according to Stroud.

Nearly one-third of U.S. cigarette smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, and menthol flavors made up 57 percent and 88.5 percent of moist snuff and snus sales, respectively, in 2015.

Youth tobacco use, meanwhile, is at an all-time low. In 2018, only 8.1 percent of high school students reported smoking combustible cigarettes compared to 36.4 percent in 1997.