State, local govs crack down on menthol cigarettes by pumping prices up
Brenda Wisehart smokes a menthol cigarette in front of a Quick Stop store on March 30, 2010 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle via Getty Images
Setting minimum retail prices and increasing taxes can help officials address public health concerns surrounding menthol cigarettes.
Two years after the Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes, the Biden administration last week said it would delay adopting the ban. The decision sparked outrage among many public health officials and lawmakers who cited the negative health impacts and racial health disparities of smoking that will worsen in the absence of federal action.
In fact, research shows some populations have higher rates of menthol smoking than others, a trend that’s largely attributed to targeted advertising from tobacco companies. Since the 1930s, cigarette manufacturers, for instance, flooded Black communities with menthol cigarette advertisements at urban centers, offered individuals free or discounted products and featured prominent Black public figures in newspaper and magazine ads, according to a 2022 report from the American Heart Association.
Decades later, tobacco companies’ marketing investments are still paying dividends: While Black individuals account for about 12% of the U.S. population, from 1980 to 2018, they made up 41% of all menthol-smoking-related premature deaths. And in recent years, youths and young adults have been enticed by menthol cigarettes, particularly as smoking devices and tobacco products have become more colorful, convenient and flavorful. Individuals aged 12 to 24 are more likely to choose a menthol cigarette the first time they light up, and in 2023, 40.4% of middle and high school students who reported that they smoked said they used menthol cigarettes.
The menthol flavor “makes smoking less harsh,” said Jeffrey Willett, national vice president of integrated strategies at the American Heart Association. “Menthol provides an anesthetic effect, kind of a cooling effect, [that] really smooths out the smoking experience,” which makes it easier for individuals to get hooked on the product and harder for them to quit.
Faced with the federal government’s delay in banning menthol cigarettes, state and local governments are stepping up.
The most effective tool policymakers are using to snuff out the appeal of menthol cigarettes is price and tax increases on tobacco products. In Minnesota, the Minneapolis city council approved an ordinance to raise the minimum price of a pack of cigarettes, including flavored tobacco products like menthol, to $15 last week. The ordinance also prohibits the use of price discounts and coupons for tobacco products.
“Due to the addictive nature of commercial tobacco products, it's far more effective to lower tobacco deaths if we prevent people from ever starting to use them,” Minnesota Department of Health Deputy Commissioner Heidi Ritchie said, CBS News reported.
Last month, Maryland lawmakers proposed a $1.25 tax increase on a pack of cigarettes, bringing the tax from $3.75 to $5.00. Officials also proposed increasing the tax on other tobacco products to 60% of the wholesale price. And last year, New York increased its tax on all cigarettes for sale from $4.35 to $5.35.
Indeed, “significantly increasing tobacco excise taxes and prices is the single most effective and cost-effective measure for reducing tobacco use,” the World Health Organization said on its site. Youths and low-income individuals are more responsive to changes in tobacco prices, so raising the cost of cigarettes and other tobacco products could deter them from starting or continuing smoking. Plus, Willett said a 10% price increase in cigarettes can reduce youth cigarette smoking by 7% and decrease adult use by 4%.
Without efforts to mitigate smoking and the impact of menthol cigarettes, the U.S. will continue to see increased rates of smoking-related issues such as pulmonary disease and lung cancer, said Avenel Joseph, vice president of policy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Lung cancer kills more people than any other form of cancer, according to the American Lung Association, and the leading cause of it is cigarette smoking.
Higher rates of smoke-related health complications can also strain the pockets of health care systems, she said. About $40 billion, or more than 15%, of annual Medicaid spending, for instance, goes toward smoking-related diseases. Plus, smoking-related illnesses can keep people from working, resulting in lost wages for individuals and lost production for employers.
“Cities, localities [and] states should be thinking about what can they do to protect the health of their communities,” Joseph said. “Price hikes [and] taxes are all effective measures to reduce the consumption of tobacco products.”
Editor's Note: This story was updated May 3 to correct the spelling of Jeffrey Willett's name.
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