A small town in Colorado, Loveland, won’t move forward with a flavor ban on the November ballot.
LOVELAND, Colo. — The city council for the town of Loveland announced on Tuesday that a proposed ban on the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products won’t be introduced in 2021. This means that the ban was rejected in the form of a local ordinance as members opted not to refer the ban to the citywide November ballot due to a sparring session over council procedure and the relevance of the policy amid national changes.
The city council voted on a tie, 4 to 4, and is considered a “failed vote” which is also a procedural “no” vote. According to the Loveland Reporter-Herald, councilors Dave Clark, John Fogle, Steve Olson, and Kathi Wright voted against sending the ban to the voters. However, councilors Richard Ball, Rob Molloy, Andrea Samson, and Mayor Jacki Marsh voted in favor of the measure. One councilor, Don Overcash, was absent for the vote.
“It would have an adverse effect on local businesses while not reducing use among adolescents,” Councilor Olson said in remarks regarding the vote. “Let’s take the steps to address youth vaping in a constructive way, to help educate our youth.”
Reporter-Herald journalist Max Levy indicated that Councilor Fogle said that “he felt introducing a flavor ban on top of new regulations passed the previous week would make it difficult to determine whether the newly introduced regulations do enough on their own to accomplish what the flavor ban was meant to do.”
“We’ve changed so many laws at one time, that we really need to let this stuff settle in and see what the results are,” Fogle said. Councilors also argued unsuccessfully that it would be more appropriate to let the public decide on the measure to bring the divided council to task. This would bring up a similar measure and vote history, like when the city voted to allow medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits.
on: Vapingpost
by: Michael McGrady
May 11th, 2021