COLUMBUS, Ohio — Zoe Villalobos, the owner of The Joint of High, said the last month has been tough on her business.
“This past month has been hard. We went down half in sales, and that is because people can drive 5 to 10 minutes to get everything they want,” said Villalobos.
Villalobos said she had to destroy $5,000 worth of flavored tobacco products before the city’s ban started on Jan. 1.
But now that the Ohio Legislature has overridden Gov. DeWine’s veto of a budget measure that put regulation in the hands of local governments, Villalobos business and other shops will be able to sell flavored tobacco products again in 90 days.
Villalobos said she will have to spend even more money to get products back on the shelves.
“We will spending about $6,000 to get back all the product we had. That’s low balling it. With smaller stores like me we don’t have $6,000 laying around,” said Villalobos.
The city of Columbus continues the fight for local enforcement. City Attorney Zach Klein said litigation is in the works.
“Cities need to have the ability to do these things. This has been a continual erosion of home rule, continual erosion of the city to look out for its citizens to partner with the community and help our children in the community. We will fight it every step of the way,” said Klein.
Klein said the ban was about protecting kids and keeping them away from getting addicted to tobacco products.
Dr. Ben Bring, with OhioHealth, said flavored tobacco products can be dangerous for kids.
“One pod or vape can be 20 cigarettes worth of nicotine. So they are very addictive and kids can get hooked quickly,” said Dr. Bring.
He wants parents to know that flavored products aren’t necessarily better than cigarettes.
“A lot of times I know it was branded as, ‘Oh, it’s safer than cigarettes’ but really that’s not the case because of the damage to the lungs it can do. And because of the high levels of nicotine that can come with that as well,” Dr. Bring said.