Convenience store trade group fights proposed ban on specialty tobacco products

The New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) has called on the Westchester County Board of Legislators to reject a proposal to prohibit licensed wholesalers and retailers from selling menthol cigarettes, cherry pipe tobacco, vanilla cigars, and wintergreen smokeless tobacco.

In a press statement, NYACS argued that the “misguided policy would severely jeopardize the economic vitality of small businesses, increase bootlegging and crime in the county and cost the county an estimated $180 million in lost taxes over the next 10 years. These severe consequences will not come with any public health benefits, as the banned adult-use products will still be easily attainable in every single neighboring jurisdiction and through an already robust illegal market.”

NYACS added there were 906 retailers within five miles of Westchester”™s border that will continue to sell flavored tobacco products if the ban went into effect. The group added that convenience stores in the county only generate $92,600 in revenue from flavored tobacco products, and the ban on the products “would take that revenue from one store and give it to a store across the county”™s border.”