Honolulu City Council has filed a bill that would ban stores from selling herbal cigarettes to anyone younger than 21 years old. Currently, anyone at least 18 years old can buy them.
The proposed age increase would match the state’s minimum age for tobacco and e-cigarette sales — further tackling youth smoking in Hawaiʻi.
Herbal cigarettes don’t contain tobacco or nicotine, but researchers say the tar and other compounds in them can still be harmful.
“When you look at the state law, right now it doesn’t apply to herbal cigarettes — they don’t have tobacco. But when you look at youth smoking and the health risks of cigarettes that are used and maybe don’t have tobacco, I mean, the risk is fairly similar, and the health consequences are still there,” said Councilmember Matt Weyer, who co-introduced the bill.
He called it a “cleanup measure” that’s part of a larger council effort to put tobacco and cigarette laws in place if a statewide tobacco ban is ever repealed or suspended. Act 206, passed by state lawmakers in 2018, preempts county tobacco laws.
There has been growing support to give the counties back their authority to regulate smoking.
The Hawaiʻi State Association of Counties, which is represented by lawmakers from the islands’ county councils, is introducing a package for the upcoming legislative session that includes a request to give the counties back the authority to regulate county smoking laws.
The counties say that they are “uniquely positioned to quickly address the health habits of their communities, such as youth vaping, and have been utilizing that ability to great success.”
They say preemption laws have been used by the tobacco industry as a tactic to prevent stronger tobacco control measures.
Honolulu City Council and the Hawaiʻi County Council have recently started efforts to add to their own county smoking laws in the event that the state’s preemption laws are suspended or repealed.
Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who also co-introduced the herbal cigarettes bill, said its efforts are another sign to the state that the counties want to handle smoking regulations.
“The counties want to have this power back, and if the state were to give it back, we would still have a comprehensive regulatory scheme in place to protect our kids,” Dos Santos-Tam said.
