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On behalf of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii's (CTFH) Youth Council, thank —
you for giving us the opportunity to submit testimony in support of Bill 102.
The CTFH Youth Council is a nationally-recognized group of youth leaders fighting to
envision and create a Hawaii, centered on uplifting community public health, beyond
the reaches of Big Tobacco. Our council comprises over 80 middle, high school, and
college students, with representation from across Hawaii's counties. We have been
working to end the sale of flavored tobacco products for the past 6 years.
Hawaii is facing a youth vaping epidemic. Hawaii high school and middle school
students have disproportionately high use rates of e-cigarette products. Containing toxic
chemicals like nicotine and formaldehyde, these products have long-term health
impacts, significantly harming the developing brain, altering nerve cell functioning, and
negatively impacting heart and lung function. Without policy action, over 21,000 Hawaii
youth alive today will die from tobacco-related illness if smoking rates don't change.
Central to the youth vaping epidemic is an industry with a troubling history in our island
home. From exploiting Native Hawaiian labor on tobacco plantations to the image of
sexualized "hula girls" on cigarette advertisements, Big Tobacco has capitalized on
Hawai'i's unique culture and legacy of colonialism to turn a profit off the backs of the
most vulnerable. Of those groups, youth have often been the most targeted, in Hawaii
and beyond.
For many, commercial tobacco use has manifested into a coping mechanism, creating a
temporary sense of relaxation to deal with struggles like anxiety, body dysmorphia, and
even intergenerational trauma, increasing dependence on the device while preserving
the underlying symptoms—making e-cigarettes a deadly tool for profit in a worsening
crisis of youth mental health. Today, consistent with the countless stories of Hawaii
youth fighting nicotine addiction or watching their friends and family do so, Big Tobacco
is exploiting our people, our culture, and our vulnerabilities through the use of flavored
tobacco products.
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Aloha Sun Juice, Lilikoi Lychee, Pass-O-Guava Nectar, Luau Punch, and POG are just
a few of the more than 15,500 e-cigarette flavors, often designed specifically to entice
local youth. It comes as no surprise, then, that 81% of youth who ever used tobacco
started with a flavored product, and 97% of youth who vape currently use a flavored
product.
Menthol in particular, one of the most popular flavors among Hawaii youth, uses added
chemicals to create a cooling sensation that, coupled with its minty flavor, makes it
easier to start vaping and harder to quit. The industry, which considers Hawaii a
"Menthol State," has invested heavily in promoting these products across the islands,
driving public health disparities in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities,
with 78% of smokers from these communities using menthol cigarettes. Flavors, then,
are the pinnacle of Big Tobacco's modern design for Hawaii—creating devices that
specifically market to and addict the communities whose systemic vulnerabilities are a
direct consequence of the history of exploitation they participate in.
The industry won't go down without a fight. Spending $26 million annually on marketing
and hundreds of thousands on lobbying in Hawaii alone, the tobacco industry's
relentless presence in daily life on the islands isn't an accident—it's intentional.
Banning the sale of all flavored tobacco products would work to end this deadly
cycle of addiction, manipulation, and exploitation. It's time to put people over the
profits of Big Tobacco. It's time to protect our keiki.
Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii Youth Council