At the eclipse of the 2022 legislative session, victory seemed like a pipe dream. By then, for me, it’d been over four years of fighting for anti-tobacco regulations, meeting with lawmakers after school, writing testimony between homework assignments, and sign-waving on curbsides over weekends — experiences shared by countless students of the Youth Council of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii.
Even though our bills died session after session, our diverse movement of youth, along with adult allies, fought tirelessly to advance public health equity, standing toe-to-toe with one of the world’s largest multibillion-dollar industries. So, several weeks ago, when I had the privilege of peering over Gov. Josh Green’s shoulder as he signed anti-tobacco legislation into law, hope surged through my na‘au. We finally did it.
Senate Bill 975 establishes tax parity for e-cigarettes, creates licensing and permitting laws, and heavily restricts online sales — but beyond that, is the culmination of organizing among hundreds of community leaders, health experts, teachers and youth advocates. And thanks to the incredible work of our champions in the House and Senate, the groundswell of movement from state legislators, and the years of avid support from the governor, tobacco regulation was finally pushed over the edge. Though Hawaii has one of the highest rates of middle- and high-school vaping today, these laws will put a sizable dent in the youth vaping epidemic, making it harder to sell and purchase products the industry has designed solely to create a new generation of smokers.
Our fight for public health equity, however, is far from over. Flavored tobacco products, which will continue to line store shelves regardless of existing regulations, are notorious for providing an enticing medium that shrouds deadly chemicals, like nicotine and formaldehyde, as they enter users’ lungs. It also serves as a potent marketing tool to pique the interest of Hawaii residents, exploiting local flavors — like Lilikoi Lychee, POG and Aloha Sun Juice — to mask addiction through the comforting flavors of our island home.
Strategic flavoring, however, is just another reformulation of Big Tobacco’s economic violence against Hawaii. The sexualized “hula girl” was routinely bastardized as a marketing tool to increase the sale of cigarette packs to white consumers. Native Hawaiians, robbed of their land, culture and means of survival, were forced to labor on tobacco plantations just to make ends meet. Tobacco use, too, has become one of the most visible manifestations of colonialism in the lahui, purporting to offer a blissful escape from the pangs of intergenerational trauma and cultural loss with a few puffs — lending to disproportionately high smoking and vaping rates among Native Hawaiian adults and youth. With a local culture to easily weaponize and a customer base ripe to exploit, it’s no wonder the tobacco industry pours $26 million annually into marketing and hundreds of thousands on lobbying in Hawaii alone. The tobacco industry’s relentless presence in daily life on the islands isn’t an accident — it’s intentional.
State lawmakers, though, have the unique opportunity to further restrict the industry’s influence this upcoming session. Advocates at the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii are pushing to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, on the state and county levels, taking away one of the key tools making it easier to start smoking and harder to quit. Currently, a 2018 gut-and-replace law prevents Hawaii counties from regulating tobacco at the point of sale, an industry tactic consistently implemented across the U.S. to prevent localized policy action. But fighting back, the coalition plans to advocate to restore decision-making ability to the counties. If these rights are remediated by state legislators, flavor bans will immediately trigger on the county level if local lawmakers pass ordinances today.
With the wave of momentum coming out of this session, the time for elected officials to take action is now. Our keiki and our culture are not tools for profiteering — so let’s finally tell the industry that Hawaii is off-limits.
Joshua Ching is a youth advocate for the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii.
