On this illustration, packets of menthol cigarettes are laid out on a desk in New York Metropolis.
Drew Anger | Getty Photos
The Supreme Court docket on Monday rejected a bid by the tobacco trade to dam California’s ban on flavored tobacco merchandise.
The ban, or Proposition 31, was overwhelmingly accredited by voters in November and would prohibit the sale of most flavored tobacco merchandise, together with menthol cigarettes.
The emergency petition was introduced by RJ Reynolds, a unit of British American TobaccoAnd different main tobacco corporations are in search of to dam or delay the measure, which is ready to take impact subsequent week.
The legislation was first handed two years in the past, however tobacco corporations efficiently funded a marketing campaign to dam its implementation and put the difficulty on this yr’s statewide poll.
Nonetheless, the judges upheld the ban with out clarification or any public outcry.
RJ Reynolds, which sells Newport menthol cigarettes, argued that the ban contradicts the Tobacco Management Act of 2009, a federal legislation that stops states from regulating the sale of tobacco merchandise.
“They’ll increase the minimal buy age, restrict gross sales to specific occasions and locations, and impose licensing regimes,” attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote of their injunction utility. “However one factor they can not do is outright prohibit the sale of merchandise that fail to satisfy the state or territory’s most popular tobacco product requirements.”
The plaintiffs additionally argued that the tobacco trade would endure “substantial monetary hurt” from the laws. Menthol cigarettes make up a few third of the market in California, he advised the court docket.
RJ Reynolds didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Monday.
Some California cities, together with Los Angeles and San Diego, have already imposed such restrictions on flavored tobacco merchandise and menthol cigarettes.
As soon as the statewide legislation goes into impact, California will turn out to be the second state within the nation after Massachusetts to enact a statewide ban.
source_url
#Supreme #Court docket #upholds #Californias #ban #flavored #tobacco
