Denver Public Schools Board calls for city council to ban flavored tobacco sales

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DENVER (KDVR) — A proposal that’s struggled to become law at the state and city level in recent years is back. Community groups are pushing for Denver City Council members to pass a ban on flavored tobacco sales in the city.

The Denver Public School Board of Education is supporting an effort urging the city council to pass a ban on flavored tobacco sales in Denver, believing they may have the support they would need for it to become law this time around.

“If our young people aren’t healthy, they can’t learn. So, at the end of the day, it’s about what’s best for our kids and that’s what I’m always going to advocate for,” said Scott Esserman, DPS School Board At-Large Director.

The board passed a proclamation Thursday night, calling on the City Council to ban the sale of flavored tobacco in the City and County of Denver.

“We’ve seen it in our schools where it’s an increasing problem in bathrooms and where a lot of our school administrators and teachers are in fact seeing vastly increased use that matches statistics that we can see,” Esserman said.

According to the CDC, teen vaping is down with 5.9 percent of middle and high school students reportedly using tobacco products in 2024 compared to 10 percent in 2023. Shops that sell these products are required by law to check I.D. cards to verify customers are 21 or over. Businesses have long said flavored tobacco bans punish their industry.

“Our priority is our students. If that means that there is a small business that has a hard time as a result of that, that is unfortunate and I’m sorry. I’m still going to advocate for what’s best for our kids.”

The NIH reports teen drugs has held steady over the past two years. FOX31 questioned if Denver schools are seeing students use those substances and if the board wanted to crack down on those. Esserman said tobacco items are different.

“If you’re going to use marijuana at school, you’re going to smoke it. People are gonna know. If you’re drinking breath, you’re going to have to hide it somewhere. But a vape pen or couple of cartridges, they are easy to hide. And there is no evidence that you’ve used it unless you are actually caught in the act. So I think there is a significant problem here, one we can address really well,” said Esserman.

Just as recently as this year, lawmakers at the state capitol brought forward a proposal to ban the sale of flavored tobacco statewide. Gov. Polis has repeatedly said he believes allowing the sale of these items is a decision best handled at the local level. This year’s effort at the state capitol failed as well as an effort in 2022. Back in 2021, Denver City Council actually passed a flavored tobacco ban but it was vetoed by then-Mayor Michael Hancock. Esserman hopes there will be a different result this time around.

“There is a community push for this. Members of the Colorado Black Roundtable and a couple of other Latino community groups really advocated strongly for this. So I think it’s less about the change in leadership and more about it’s time to act. It’s time to make a statement about this and do something about this,” said Esserman.

FOX31 was told City Councilmembers Shontel Lewis and Darrell Watson are working on the legislation. They were tied up in budget hearings and were unable to talk with us about the proposal on Friday. We reached out to Mayor Mike Johnston’s team to ask if he would support the legislation, but we did not hear back.

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Gabrielle Franklin

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