Banning flavored vapes and menthol cigarettes sales are among the proposed updates to Rice County's two-decade-old tobacco ordinance. But the tangible impact it would have is minimal.
Tuesday's Rice County Board of Commissioners work session began with a 45-minute discussion about a number of updates to the county's current tobacco ordinance, which was enacted in 1998. While the proposals excited at least three local health advocates who spoke at the meeting, it's not likely to have much effect unless the municipalities follow suit.
The proposed updates were presented by Rice County Public Health Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) Coordinator Josh Ramaker, who concluded the presentation with a summary of the reasoning behind the updates.
"The best possible world is one without the death and harms associated with commercial tobacco use," he said. "Communities differ on their readiness and willingness to adapt certain commercial-tobacco-control policies that are intended to help make that world a reality.
"As such, the Rice County Public Health recommendations represent a balance between state and federal minimum standards, best public health policy practices and practicality. The Rice County Public Health recommendations contain several policy components that Rice County may or may not choose to adopt and that may go beyond minimum state and federal requirements."
Rice County's tobacco ordinance does not meet the minimum standards set by Minnesota statute. If the proposed changes are adopted, it would be well beyond the required regulation.
The proposed changes include banning cigarillo packs of two, three or four. The proposals also set minimum price of $4 for single cigars and minimum $15 price for a five pack of cigars. This includes cigarillos, like Swisher Sweets, that are a mix between a cigar and cigarette, commonly known to be emptied of the loose tobacco and used to smoke marijuana.
"I think we've all seen a Swisher Sweets $2 package laying on the ground somewhere," Ramaker said. "It's been pretty common most of my life. It's especially appealing to price-sensitive youth who might be experimenting."
Some of the changes have to do with licensing and punishment for violating compliance standards, like checking IDs before selling products.
Rice County currently has a $150 licensing fee. Faribault's is $200 and Northfield's is $400. The recommendation is to lift the county's price to $400.
If a business sells cigarettes to a minor once under the current ordinance, it is issued a $75 fine. If another violation occurs within two years, it is issued a $200 fine. For a third violation or more, a $250 fine is issued and the merchant's license is suspended for a week.
That's proposed to go up to $300 for the first violation, then $600, then $1,000 and a monthlong suspension and a fourth violation in three years results in that merchant's license being revoked.
"It's very rare that you get a retailer that's getting this deep into the penalties, so it's probably not that huge of an issue," Ramaker said. "But if you're seeing a repeat offender and four times targeting youth for tobacco sales, that was our logic behind that suggestion. So when penalties are effective and appropriate, compliance rates increase and reduce the need for costly enforcement actions."
Commissioner Galen Malecha suggested a mandatory class instead of a monetary penalty for the first violation.
"A lot of people accidentally misread a birthdate," he said. "And I think that they should be re-educated instead of fined, because that goes on their record permanently. … Rice County chemical health has the classes for the alcohol. There should be a class for the tobacco."
Other recommended tobacco ordinance updates include a ban on pharmacies selling tobacco products and a ban on accepting coupons for or promotions of tobacco products.
"The commercial-tobacco industry devotes billions of dollars each year to invest in pricing strategies to entice new customers," Ramaker said. "They want to discourage quitting. And they also want to reduce the effectiveness of those tax increases. And one of the best ways to help people out with that is to suggest and prohibit tobacco coupons and promotions. Keep in mind too, that studies show that youth and young adults are especially susceptible to commercial-tobacco-product availability, advertising and price promotion at tobacco-retail environments."
Prohibition of delivery sales of tobacco products is also in the recommendations, which was questioned Commissioner Steve Underdahl. He said his parents died as a result of their tobacco use and he supports stricter policies, but he said he is concerned about infringing on the rights of people and businesses.
"I realized that the ordinance is based on the seller," he said. "But like, when it talks about delivery, what happens if a retailer in Faribault delivers out into the county?"
Ramaker said it would need a discussion with the Rice County Sheriff's Office how the ordinances are enforced, but would likely come during annual compliance checks, which he recommended become semiannual.
Smoking inside the shops and free samples would also be banned. Finally, it's proposed that new tobacco merchants not be allowed to set up shop within 1,000 feet of any youth site, including schools and parks.
Flavored vapes
Because Rice County only has jurisdiction over non-incorporated areas, there are only four stores that would be affected by the proposed ordinance: Dennison Depot in Dennison, Lake Country Convenience & Bait in Shieldsville, Flying J Pilot Travel Center between Lonsdale and Northfield and Willingers Golf Club in rural Northfield.
All the stores selling tobacco products except Willingers Golf Club responded to inquiries about their tobacco products. None of the three sold flavored vapes, but they did all offer menthol cigarettes and Flying J sells menthol-flavored vapes. Those would be banned if the new ordinance passes.
Expressing support on behalf of the Northfield Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention, Healthy Community Initiative Network Impact Director Meleah Follen suggested Rice County's example could inspire similar changes in its municipalities.
"In particular, we are excited to see the recommendations to prohibit the sale of any flavored tobacco products, including menthol flavor," she said. "As was shared, we know that flavored tobacco products have been used as a way to target youth as an initial hook into usage, and the elimination of this one issue will have a far-reaching impact for our youth.
"If Rice County passes this ordinance, we believe this will be a powerful incentive for the city of Northfield to look at their current ordinance and update to match these recommendations, particularly the prohibition of flavored products."
The discussion is expected to continue at a future work session in "about a month," according to Ramaker.
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