CLEVELAND — Cleveland's Director of Public Health Dave Margolius, is urging Cleveland City Council to follow through on legislation to impose cigarette sales restrictions as soon as possible.
Margolius responded after Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott issued a temporary restraining order on April 19 halting the enforcement of a state law set to restrict municipalities, including Columbus and several Franklin County suburbs, from regulating tobacco products.
Margolius explained the ruling came in response to a lawsuit that Cleveland and 13 other Ohio cities filed earlier this month, suing the state over a new law that strips local governments of the right to regulate the sale of tobacco products such as menthol cigarettes and flavored vapes.
"In Cleveland the pressure is now back on us to pass a law to protect our residents where we have one of the highest smoking rates in the country," Margolius said. “We hope that city council is ready to hold a hearing so that we can discuss this extremely important issue for the health of our residents.”
Margolius told News 5 that state lawmakers have an opportunity to pass a state-wide law to protect residents and to help them quit smoking, and said data indicates in every jurisdiction that has passed flavored tobacco regulation, tobacco retailers did not go out of business. They just found other things to sell.
“We can do something to stop the 600 tobacco retailers in our community from recruiting our kids to be addicted to nicotine," Margolius said “Cleveland’s smoking rate is 35% of adults while the rest of the country is down to 11%, and that’s not by accident, tobacco companies have really targeted residents in the City of Cleveland."
However, long-time Cleveland tobacco retailers like Haytham Mustafa, General Manager of Convenience Food Mart on Clark Avenue, told News 5 that a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes would have a devastating impact on small business owners and would have only a small impact on slowing nicotine addiction, with buyers simply driving to neighboring cities to get the cigarettes they want.
“If they ban menthol cigarettes, you’re talking about 25% out my sales, in just the Newports, I do about 40 cartons a week," Mustafa said. “I really don’t get it, you want to ban the cigarettes just in Cleveland, you should ban them across the state."
Ward 9 Cleveland Councilman and Cleveland Health Committee Chair Kevin Conwell told News 5 he's willing to hold a special hearing on potential cigarette legislation in May but said he would rather first explore city resources that could educate smokers and help them quit the habit.
“You have to educate people first, you can’t just say I want to ban smoking and everybody stops," Conwell said. “You have to educate people and bring them resources, and discuss behaviors and show them another way to change behaviors."
The Franklin County restraining order can be appealed by state lawmakers in a higher court. Both Columbus and Cincinnati have cigarette sales restriction legislation on the books.
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
