Minneapolis City Council approves minimum price increase on e-cigarettes
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved amendments to its tobacco ordinance on Thursday, raising prices on e-cigarettes and tightening restrictions on retailers.
The adjustments set the minimum price for all e-cigarettes at $25 and preclude new tobacco retailers from opening within 300 feet of K-12 schools or in areas that are mainly residential.
The changes will take effect upon Mayor Jacob Frey's approval.
In a statement before the Thursday vote, the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota said the ordinance would "keep tobacco products out of the reach of young Minneapolis residents and make it easier for adults to quit."
For anti-smoking advocates, the move comes as a huge win.
"Today represents a big step forward for the city of Minneapolis, but hopefully for the rest of the state as well," said Emily Anderson, Director of Policy for the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota. "Dozens and dozens of people were involved in this process. And had their voices heard – whether they testified, emailed or wrote a letter. The council really listened to them and took action."
Anderson says price is the primary driver for preventing youth use. Trade groups representing the state's gas stations and convenience stores strongly disagree, however. In a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and the Minneapolis City Council, the groups call the minimum price "arbitrary," saying it will only push would-be smokers to neighboring cities.
Wholesalers like Ross Amundson, whose family has owned and operated Amundson's Cigar and Candy Company in Bloomington since 1938, has another theory of what could happen.
"The lowest price e-cigarette was $10 or $15 before, but that was for a specific amount of puffs. What'll happen is they'll go to double the amount of puffs, it'll be a larger unit, and the retail might as well be $25 or more anyways," Amundson said.
In short, customers could go bigger, hoping to get more bang for their buck.
"There's not one perfect solution to this problem," Anderson said. "It's a pretty complex problem. We need to do things around price, age, flavors, all these things together really make that comprehensive impact."
The move is Minneapolis' latest in a yearslong effort to curb tobacco use. A decade ago, the City Council cracked down on the availability of flavored tobacco products. In 2017, the city restricted menthol sales. A year later, the council raised the legal age to buy tobacco to 21. Just last year, the city enacted an ordinance raising the minimum price of cigarettes and other commercial tobacco products to $15. That move also banned price discounts and coupons for tobacco products, stopped a sampling loophole that allowed indoor smoking and increased penalties for shops in violation of city code.
