Local smoke shop owners worried and concerned about flavored tobacco ban going into effect in 2025

Proposition 31, which bans flavored tobacco products will officially go into effect in the new year.

It’s already illegal for retailers to sell tobacco to anyone under 21. The ban doesn’t make it a crime to possess such products but retailers who sold them to kids could be fined up to $250.

The ban, which passed the Legislature with bipartisan support, also prohibits the sale of pods for vape pens, tank-based systems and chewing tobacco, with exceptions made for hookahs, some cigars and loose-leaf tobacco.

The Proposition passed with 76.5% of the vote back in November of 2022, but the campaign was not fully supported by everyone. The campaign faced opposition from tobacco giants and thousands of small business owners who ran smoke shops.

"We work hard to build these businesses, we did everything right, and everything legally," said Hani, the owner of four different smoke shops here in the Coachella Valley. "Right now they come to us to tell us, close your shop and go home. For my four stores, 14 different families survive from the stores."

Hani is also worried about store owners across the state.

"Think about it," said Hani. "More than 20,000 to 30,000 families are gonna be affected from this ban. You're gonna see a lot of bad days for people who survive from these products. More than 70% of my product will be illegal to sell in January. There will be tons of empty shelves."      

A campaign funded by tobacco giants, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA, had effectively blocked the law passed prior to the vote, in 2020. The $20 million campaign gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the statewide ballot. Tobacco companies had pushed hard to keep from being shut out of a large portion of California’s vast market.

California’s Republican party also opposed the ban, saying it would cause a giant loss in tax revenue. The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated it could cost the state tens of millions of dollars to around $100 million annually.

 “It's not even revenue from smoke shops, its liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores, we will all have the same problem," explained Hani. "I pay taxes every year. I pay a lot of taxes every year, and the shops pay a lot of taxes every year. They're going to lose a lot of money of taxes. Money from the flavored product sales, the owners, the income tax, and the employees' taxes too. So there's like, three, four kinds of tax revenues that they're gonna lose.”

Supporters of the ban, who included doctors, child welfare advocates and the state’s dominant Democratic Party, said the law was necessary to put a stop to the staggering rise in teen smoking. Advocates say the ban said the victory will save lives and money on tobacco-related health care costs.

But Hani believes the ban will cause thousands of stores to close, and the black market for flavored tobacco products to explode, effectively sending these products to the streets and in the hands of more minors.

"Right now, these products are under control. They are regulated and controlled by the storess," said Hani. "We have a business license, tobacco license, all of the legal documents. We check everything. We don't sell minors, we only sell to people over 21 years old. But with a black market, there is no control. People will go to other states, bring the products back in California, and it will go to the black market for minors. You can't see who's smoking, and who's not”.

California will become the second state in the nation, after Massachusetts, to enact a ban prohibiting the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. A number of California cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego, already enacted their own bans.