Lawmakers should consider: Flavored tobacco products hook teens early, often for life

As a student at Lake Oswego Junior High, I first learned about tobacco, smoking, and e-cigarettes. It was viewed as a fun but costly activity to do with friends.

Then in the seventh grade, my health teacher warned us of the dangers of smoking. I remember looking at my friend and laughing. Who would knowingly poison themselves?

Now, as I prepare to become a high school senior, I understand why many young people become addicted to tobacco: It is sold in a wide variety of flavors that appeal to kids. It is promoted as a stress reliever, and a recreational activity, and above all, it is the new norm for many my age. Companies target unsuspecting youth with vibrant packaging and flavors that mask tobacco’s taste, a marketing device designed to downplay the dangers while cultivating the perfect audience for their products.

Flavors, especially for youth, are tools to hook us, too often for life. Flavors hide the foul taste of tobacco but also the realism of the damage done every time my friends take a hit. Whether that be traditional cigarettes or the dangerous e-cigarettes, the threat is real. No teen craves the flavor of tobacco. But pineapple ice? Birthday cake?

It’s simple. What’s thought of as a one-time activity very quickly cascades into a spiral of addiction. Kids and teens don’t understand the depth of what they’re getting themselves into when they take their first hit. It’s time for a future in which Oregonian youth can reach adulthood without the pressures of tobacco marketing and use.

Oregon lawmakers have had multiple opportunities to get flavored tobacco products out of our communities. House Bill 3090 would have eliminated sales of flavored tobacco products in Oregon but fell just short in the 2023 legislative session because of the walkout.

But now lawmakers are under renewed pressure to act. Multiple city councils, county commissions, and agencies across the state have asked for action, with Deschutes County just this week calling for an end to the sale of flavored tobacco products and urging the Legislature to take up the issue in next year’s session. The Klamath County Board of Commissioners and the Klamath Falls City School District have made a similar appeal, joining at least 10 other jurisdictions that have passed resolutions – Salem, Lake Oswego, Newport among them – and seven more are currently in that process, including Eugene, Benton County, and Clatsop County.

I can personally attest to the severity of this issue. Friends and peers are entrapped into a cycle of use and, by the time they realize, it feels like it is too late. Ask any high schooler you know, and I guarantee they will have dozens of encounters they’d be willing to share.

While I don’t believe it is ever too late for someone to ask for help, those who do often face a harsh and long recovery, including social pressures, unwanted family attention, and possible disciplinary consequences. That’s why many never ask for help.

My friends and peers who use these products are not evil. Too many generalizations are made about victims of addiction by both adults and fellow students. We need to get educated about the threat of the products and the necessary steps for prevention.

This is precisely why I’m advocating for ending the sale of flavored tobacco products through the Lake Oswego Youth Leadership Council. I hope that my work can help at least one person quit using flavored tobacco.

I have had friends tell me that were it not for the flavors, they would be less inclined to use them and might even drop them altogether. Many others would never have started. Data from the National Institutes of Health shows that 80% of youth who consume tobacco use flavored products, and 75% say they’d quit if they weren’t flavored.

My advocacy is about protecting my 6-year-old neighbor who doesn’t know what an e-cig is. It’s about making sure his dad can feel safe dropping him off at school every morning and it’s for the hundreds of thousands of other families who face this threat. Early death is a clear consequence of tobacco use, a fact that can be hard to come to grips with when you are in junior high.

Lawmakers can end the sale of all flavored tobacco products in the state. They have heard from us, and they have seen the damage themselves in their schools. Thousands of kids have gotten hooked as we wait for their next opportunity to act. Corporate tobacco’s profit model diminishes children’s lives, their health, and their happiness. That simply cannot be acceptable to anybody who cares about the future of Oregon.

Kasen Shi will be a senior at Lake Oswego High School during the 2024-25 school year. He also is a member of the Lake Oswego Youth Leadership Council and a volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

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