Carbondale Bans Flavored Nicotine To Help Combat Teen Vaping

Carbondale has become the latest place in Colorado to ban the sale of flavored nicotine products.

The town board of trustees unanimously approved the ban Tuesday. It joins Aspen and Glenwood Springs. They instituted bans earlier this summer.

More cities and towns around Colorado are considering such anti-tobacco measures, like tax increases, flavor bans, requiring licenses for tobacco retailers and raising the legal purchasing age from 18 to 21. Denver and Boulder are also considering such moves.

Carbondale already limits sale of nioctine products to people over age 21. Town Trustee Erica Sparhawk said at a town trustee board meeting Tuesday night that the ban could spur movement at the state level.

"I think it sends a strong message to our youth," she said Tuesday night. "I think it sends a strong message to our parents, who don't necessarily know, and aren't necessarily educated on what an issue this is."

A CDC school-based survey says e-cigarette use among high school students in Colorado is the highest among 37 other states.

Carbondale Mayor Dan Richardson said the new law was imperative because little oversight was cast on the tobacco industry when it introduced vaping products.

"We are reacting to the way that the industry was able to essentially ramrod this through to the marketplace," he said. "I think it would be unethical, from my personal opinion, to continue to allow our youth to be impacted by this epidemic."