Trashed Cigarette Packs Highlight Failure of California’s Flavor Ban

Last year, California voters passed Proposition 31—banning the retail sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products, including menthol. Overnight, one-third of the Golden State’s nicotine consumers were left with a stark choice: quitting their preferred products or seeking them through the illicit market. New data suggest it’s pretty clear which way they went. And it should make sobering reading for the Food and Drug Administration, which presses on with its plan for a national menthol cigarettes ban while refusing to authorize any menthol (or flavored) vaping products.