I live in Oakland, Ca. I’m a half pack a day, sometimes less and rarely more, smoker. I smoke cigarettes, yeah it’s a bad habit I know and simply don’t care. My personal favorite cigarette brand is Fortuna Menthol 100s. My best friend smokes Camel Crushes, which are also menthol cigarettes. The City Council and Board of Supervisors in Oakland have decided to ban sales of menthol cigarettes in the city limits. The ban was snuck in with the ban on e cig vapor cartridges and mods. The legislators saw an opportunity to add menthol cigarettes to a bunch of unrelated products, but because the public is not well educated on this issue, menthol cigarettes are banned.

This is a freedom of choice issue and very possibly a constitutional issue. Is it not my constitutional right to choose which type of cigarettes I want to smoke? If not constitutional, then it is at least an issue of government over reaching into people’s personal lives. It’s one thing to ban products clearly being marketed to children. I have no issue with the vapor related items and products being taken off shelves, but menthol cigarettes are a completely different animal.

Firstly, vaping is a relatively new phenomenon. Electric cigarettes and the vapor liquid that comes with them have not existed very long. Menthol cigarettes have existed forever and there has never been a ban or accusations of selling to kids. At least no more than any other cigarette companies got thrown at them, for instance Joe Camel was said to be marketing cigarettes to kids. Just because he was a cartoon character, and maybe it was true, but menthol cigarettes is a very specific thing to ban. And to ban every single brand of menthol and call it “flavored” tobacco. But menthols come with the surgeon general’s warning as well as being in clearly marked cigarette packs. Whereas vapor liquid or e-liquid looks like candy, smells like candy, has cartoon ads and tastes like candy. That definitely promotes kids vaping, but not smoking menthols.

This is a violation of the decisions of law abiding adult citizens to smoke whatever brand of cigarettes they want. Vaping and smoking simply are not the same things and should have never been included in the same legislation. There is a group in San Francisco fighting the ban and they were able to gain 34,000 signatures on a petition to repeal the ban. If anything, if the ban is repealed, law makers made a mistake attaching vaping and smoking and literally nothing would be accomplished. Including not helping kids who maybe exposed to vaping too young.

In Oakland specifically, I’m local, the majority of the population of smoker smoke menthols. So the city is losing big tax dollars not allowing sales of menthol cigarettes. There are all kinds of issues with these types of bans. It could open up the opportunity for a cigarette black market and begin contributing to an even higher crime rate. Again, so many possible issues.

This ban maybe unconstitutional, it violates personal choice, it’s a sneaky law and it doesn’t make much logical sense. I think these band should be repealed and that customers who are of age should be allowed their menthol cigarettes. The government shouldn’t be this involved in our day to day lives. It’s about our rights, not just being angry I have to drive to the next county to get cigarettes. And for those who think I should quit, you are right and I don’t care. People need to read about this issue, so please share with your friends and family.