Court Rejects Company's Challenge To LA Flavored-Tobacco Ban

Court Rejects Company's Challenge To LA Flavored-Tobacco Ban

Introduction

The United States Supreme Court declined to hear R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's appeal to Los Angeles County's prohibition on the sale of flavored tobacco products, arguing that only the federal government, not state or local governments, has the legal right to control tobacco products.

The Supreme Court denied the tobacco company's appeal of a lower court's decision to sustain the prohibition, which encompasses menthol cigarettes and vape juice, and went into effect in 2020. R.J. Reynolds is a brand owned by British American Tobacco.

In December, the Supreme Court upheld a California statewide prohibition on flavored tobacco products, which was also challenged by R.J. Reynolds. The Democratic governor of California signed the prohibition into law in 2020 as a policy reaction to worries about an increase in teen e-cigarette and tobacco use, and it was upheld by voters in a 2022 ballot proposal.

After Massachusetts, California became the second state to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products in 2019. Some additional states have prohibited flavored vaping items, and numerous municipalities have enacted their own restrictions.

The municipal prohibition was signed by a previous Los Angeles Mayor, a Democrat, in June, and was lauded by medical groups such as the American Lung Association, which termed it a "tremendous stride in public health."

Scented tobacco products, particularly e-cigarettes, have come under fire in recent years, with detractors claiming that they appeal to adolescents. The US Food and Drug Administration attempted to take all of the prominent e-cigarette producer Juul Labs Inc's products off the market last year, but that decision is on hold while the company appeals.

Last year, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco maintained the Los Angeles prohibition by a 2-1 decision. The panel determined that the industry misinterpreted a 2009 statute that granted the FDA the jurisdiction to set and implement "tobacco product standards," noting that this implies the FDA has sole authority to oversee the manufacture and marketing of tobacco products but not retail sales.

The implementation of the statewide ban was postponed when a group representing the tobacco industry gathered enough signatures to place a ballot question before voters to repeal the policy. The sales prohibition was supported by over two-thirds of those who voted.

The FDA will issue a long-awaited plan to prohibit menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in the United States in 2022, though implementation will take years.