A state’s ban on menthol and flavored tobacco has made no impact on smoking habits among adults, according to a new report from the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association (NECSEMA).
“The ban had minimal impact on reducing the rates of menthol cigarette use in adults aged 21 and over compared to states without flavor restrictions,” the report said. The Massachusetts ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco products went into effect on June 1, 2020.
The report Effect of Flavored Nicotine Ban in Massachusetts: Myth vs. Reality includes data from the annual Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey (BRFSS).
Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts the BRFSS survey across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Individual states are responsible for administering the survey, which includes questions about tobacco use. Massachusetts has included a specific question about menthol cigarette use since 2019, NECSEMA said.
NECSEMA said the BRFSS survey found that 37.5% of smokers reported using menthol cigarette products in 2019 compared to 36.9% in 2022. Findings also said that 3.9% of adults in Massachusetts reported smoking menthol in 2019 compared with 3.8% in 2022.
“The data is clear—bans do not work,” said NECSEMA Executive Director Peter Brennan. “As we warned before this ill-advised policy was put in place, the buying and selling of menthol cigarettes in Massachusetts has continued unabated, despite these legal adult products being removed from the shelves of licensed, regulated retailers.”
Brennan said customers who prefer menthol are continuing to buy these products in neighboring states.
These states are “now reaping the tax benefits, or even worse, on the illicit market, from criminals and organized crime factions,” he said.
The report also found that Massachusetts has not seen a larger decrease in overall smoking habits among adults aged 21 and over, when compared with other states that still permit menthol and flavored tobacco usage. If all adult menthol smokers had quit, the expected adult smoking prevalence in 2022 would have been around 7%, however, the actual smoking prevalence among adults aged 21 and over in 2022 is 10.7%, NECSEMA said.
“Massachusetts is losing out on more than $100 million per year in sales tax revenue from menthol sales that are now going to New Hampshire and Rhode Island,” Brennan said. “We are seeing cartons of menthols being sold on our streets, unchecked. The data makes it crystal clear that the flavored tobacco ban in Massachusetts has been a complete failure. The numbers do not lie.”
Interested in learning more about the tobacco category? Register or sponsor CSP’s Convenience Retailing University here.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.