Two groups fighting to repeal Denver’s ban on flavored tobacco turned in thousands of signatures to the city clerk’s office Monday.
They said they submitted more than 17,000, easily more than the roughly 9,400 required, if they’re verified, to place the measure on the ballot this year.
The move sets up yet another major public fight over the issue.
The city council passed the ban in December in a 12-1 vote, after weeks of debate and a costly advertising and media campaign. A few days later, Mayor Mike Johnston signed it.
Vape shop owners called the ban an attack
“This ban is an attack on family-owned and minority-owned businesses already struggling with rising costs and inflation. A ban will not stop people from buying these products – it will just send them to Lakewood, Glendale, Aurora, and neighboring communities – leaving Denver family-owned businesses and the city’s economy to suffer,” said Phil Guerin, who owns Myxed Up Creations, a vape store on Colfax Avenue.
“The city already enforces strict age restrictions on the sale of these products to keep them out of the hands of kids, just like with alcohol and marijuana,” said Guerin, who is also president of the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Alliance (RMSFA), in a statement. That’s a trade association of hundreds of small, independent, minority-owned vape stores.
“Where are Denver’s priorities? Homelessness, crime, and cost of living are on the minds of Denver voters. The City of Denver has real issues to address. Banning adult products is not one of them. Vote NO vote in November and let your voice be heard!” said Kristen Hensel, owner of Rusty’s Vape in Denver, in the statement.
The RMSFA and a group called Citizen Power!, which was set up after the vote to fight back against the change, filed the signatures.
Supports of the ban are confident the effort to undo it will fail
Council member Darrell Watson, one of the sponsors of the ban, called the repeal effort “ill-considered.”
“Vaping interests already waged an expensive campaign last year when this issue was wisely approved by a vote of 11-1 by Denver City Council,” he wrote in a statement. “I will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with health care providers, educators, families, and concerned community members to maintain these hard-fought protections for our families.”
Proponents of the law, approved in December, said they’re confident voters will reject it.
The Flavors Hook Kids Denver Coalition issued a statement saying it: “strongly condemns the tobacco industry’s attempt to overturn Denver City Council’s action to end the sale of flavored tobacco. By pushing a ballot measure to reverse this critical public health policy, the tobacco industry is once again prioritizing profits over people, particularly Denver’s kids.”
“Despite the industry’s efforts to derail this progress with an expensive ballot campaign, we remain confident that Denver residents will continue to stand up for the health and future of our kids,” said Illana Poley with Flavor Hooks Kids.
The Office of the Clerk and Recorder has until April 12 to determine if enough valid signatures were submitted.
It will be on the November 2025 ballot, unless the city council votes to hold a special election for this one measure, according to a spokesperson for the clerk’s office.
Both sides expect another fight
Both sides are bracing for another high-profile showdown. The long-running fight, really part of a global contest, pits companies and stores that sell tobacco and vape products and some who use them against a coalition of parents, students, educators, doctors and health groups who warn of the harmful impacts of flavored smoking and vaping.
And based on polling, both sides say they’re confident voters will back them.
“Denver voters in particular are strongly supportive of this policy,” said Jodi Radke, director for the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains region with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. “They understand why this policy needs to be in place and what the impacts and outcomes are. And so I feel confident that even in an off year (election) that Denver voters will communicate their understanding and their support for this if it does make it to the ballot.”
“Basically the polling says that 40 percent of Denver voters are not decided on this issue,” said vape shop owner Guerin. “People just don't have enough information. And in my experience and in collecting these signatures and talking to the general public, when you tell them what's going on, we have a lot of people that agree with us.”
Texts, social media posts, mailers and advertorials were part of the expensive fight last fall, as well as intense lobbying by some of the state’s most high profile lobbyists and firms.
Then-Mayor Michael Hancock vetoed a similar proposal in 2021. Then, a measure plan to ban flavor tobacco products statewide failed in the legislature — with Gov. Jared Polis saying local governments should decide how to handle the issue.
Besides Denver, seven other Colorado cities have approved measures to prohibit or restrict flavored tobacco products: Aspen, Boulder, Carbondale, Edgewater, Glenwood Springs, Golden and Snowmass Village. The national list includes almost 400 municipalities and six states, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
In 2018, Colorado had the nation’s highest rate of vaping among young people, twice the national average. It dropped sharply in recent years after a multifaceted effort that included raising the purchase age to 21. But many who get hooked on vapor products struggle to stop and often turn to cigarettes.
Backers of the ban point to state health department data that young people who vape are four times more likely to smoke cigarettes a year later.
But the groups that want to repeal the ban say the city council overreached and failed to listen to constituents in passing a measure they see as ill-conceived and anti-adult.
“Denver voters have taken the first step,” said Dwight Johnson, owner of Denver Vaper Jungle. “Over 17,000 highly motivated voters signed a petition to stop a misguided flavored vape ban that would bankrupt hundreds of small family-owned and minority-owned businesses like mine, cost thousands of jobs, reduce Denver’s annual revenue by $13 million dollars, and not reduce youth vaping. In November, every voter in Denver will have their voice heard!”
