On Monday, the nation’s first statewide ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes will take effect in Massachusetts. This is the final step in the state's prohibition of flavored tobacco.
Convenience store owners say the timing couldn’t be worse, given the coronavirus pandemic.
Outside the New World gas station and convenience store in Springfield last week, you could witness a sight that will soon go the way of the dodo bird and the Edsel — at least in Massachusetts: someone walking out the door with a pack of menthol cigarettes in their hand.
"I’m upset over it," Jim Rooney said. "I smoke, unfortunately. Either I [will] smoke regulars or take a ride down to Enfield."
Enfield, Connecticut, is a less than 20-minute drive. Gaurav Patel, who’s a part-owner of this New World location and another nearby, said he expects a good chunk of his customers will start crossing the border.
"Forty, 50, 60% — they’re going to Connecticut to buy the cartons," he said.
Not including lottery tickets, Patel said menthol cigarettes make up more than half his convenience store sales.
"The big cities, like Springfield, people smoke the menthol a lot," he said. "So this is the city of the menthol, you know?"
A trade group representing New England convenience stores asked the state to delay the ban for a year, but got nowhere.
The head of the association, Jon Shaer, said cross-border purchases are inevitable and would pose a risk to public health because of COVID-19.
"People from Massachusetts have a higher rate of infection than people in New Hampshire," he said. "Well, on June 1, particularly in cities like Nashua that are right over the border, they're going to see an influx of Massachusetts license plates at a time when governors, public health officials and frankly, businesspeople and residents in New Hampshire, don't really want to see those license plates."
Shaer said his members have already taken a financial hit because of the coronavirus, and this is not the time to be limiting a key source of revenue.
"It's going to be a killer, particularly for independents that are in cities like Boston, New Bedford, Brockton," he said. "Those independent stores that depend on this category for upwards of 35, 40, 45% of their revenue — I don't know how any business loses half of their sales and survives."
A 'convenient' argument
Dr. Lauren Smith said that is "a problematic argument."
"They’re essentially saying that we are looking to trade off the health and well-being of individuals to whom they're selling these products, for their economic well-being," said Smith, who chairs Tobacco Free Mass., a group that pushed for the flavored tobacco ban.
Smith said if COVID-19 weren't happening, she believes business groups would still push to delay the law.
"And there would be another type of argument," she said. "It just so happens that COVID-19 is a convenient one for them to use now."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saysyoung people and African Americans are much more likely to smoke menthols than other groups. More than 90% of black adults who smoke began with menthols.
That’s no accident, Smith said.
Menthol "has been used, I think, very intentionally, specifically to target certain groups, communities of color, to start smoking," she said. "The way menthol acts as a chemical cools and numbs the throat, so that it makes it easier to sort of take in the tobacco smoke and to inhale and to inhale it deeper."
For his part, the convenience store association's Shaer said he thinks "everybody should smoke less."
"I don't think a rational person would argue to the contrary," he said. "Look, these are legal adult products used by adults. So if this is a product that they choose to use, that's their right."
Shaer put NEPR in touch with Bob Bolduc, who owns 33 Pride stores in western Massachusetts. Bolduc couldn’t say what percentage of his sales are menthol cigarettes, but he’s not toeing the industry line on the new law.
In fact, he said, the restrictions should go further.
“I think it’s a good thing," Bolduc said. "I’m a health nut myself and I believe in healthy eating and healthy living. In the long run, they should all be banned."
'There's always ways around it'
For now, advocates of the menthol ban hope it decreases smoking and its health impacts.
In Springfield, Victor Sanchez — who smokes Newports — said the new restriction probably won’t make much difference.
"There’s always ways around it," Sanchez said. "People go out of town, buy a carton, sell loosies out of their home. You know, other small businesses will sell loosies out of their spot — on the low."
But menthol smoker Sebastian Wilson said the ban could have a bigger impact on him.
"I don’t really like smoking without menthol, so probably it’s my road to quitting," he said, adding that he won’t be driving to Connecticut. "Not for no cigarettes. It’s too much gas."
Store owner Gaurav Patel said he and his partners will be able to stay in business — because they also sell gasoline.
