Pitkin County prohibits sale of flavored tobacco products

Pitkin County Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance on Wednesday that prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products, like flavored disposable vapes and nicotine pouches in unincorporated Pitkin County. 

The city of Aspen has already passed this type of ban. Other cities in the Roaring Fork Valley, like Carbondale and Glenwood, have also passed similar measures, but Pitkin County is the first county in Colorado to take the action, according to a county memo shared with the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners before they voted. 

According to the memo for the ordinance, the code amendment aims to reduce consumption of and addiction to nicotine products by minors. 

“Flavor(s) are marketed toward youth in particular, (and) it creates a lifetime addiction to nicotine,” said Dr. Kimberly Levin, a medical liaison for Public Health at Pitkin County and a physician. “It creates lifetime addiction to other substances, as well, such as alcohol and opioids. It creates a muscle in your brain for addiction, so a flavor ban in particular will save so many youth from addiction not only to nicotine but many other addictions in the future.”

Peter Mueller, health promotion and program administrator at Pitkin County, opened the meeting by pointing to statistics on underage use of nicotine nationwide and specifically in Aspen High School. 

“Nearly one in two students have had access to flavored tobacco products through vaping,” Mueller told commissioners on Wednesday. “Two and a half years ago, 17% of all students at Aspen High School had used vaping products within the last 30 days … Nine out of 10 of those students were using flavored tobacco products.”

The discussion included the perspective of multiple high school students, but one in particular specifically reported seeing students use nicotine products after observing their peers using them. Over time, some of those students saw their nicotine use evolve from a social activity to an addiction as they used nicotine to cope with anxiety. 

“(Flavored nicotine) is such a common thing to see, and it has just the image of being pretty harmless,” the student told commissioners. “We learn about long term dangers, but if you see your friends or peers using these products and they’re still doing fine in school and in their lives, you don’t think of it as an extremely harmful thing to try just once.” 

The commissioners, after hearing comments from high-schoolers, doctors, health professionals and other members of the public, passed the measure unanimously. 

The amended code goes into effect 30 days after its passing and allows for a 90-day grace period for retailers to sell through or dispose of their stock of flavored nicotine products.