HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0593.018 2022-2024 Pct�Su✓
COUNTY CLERK BILL Ica
COUNTY OF H M COMM. 513
Chair-Jenn Kagiwada 2073 DEC -Li RI 12: 1 1
Vice Chair- Matt Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder
Members of the Policy Committee on Health, Safety and Well-being
My name is Jensel Merice Jose, I am a Junior attending Kohala High School and I am
writing to you today to ask you to support bill 102 to end the sale of all flavored tobacco
products in Hawai'i County.
I support this bill because of my own personal experiences with watching vapes destroy
the people around me. I may live in a small town isolated from others, but that doesn't
mean that vaping hasn't affected my school, my community, and even my own home.
Vaping in Kohala is destroying our youth and makes me fear for our future.
My heart aches knowing that vaping has gotten to the point where the student leaders
of Kohala High School have been influenced to vape at such a young age. Our school
has a leadership class specifically for our Student Ambassadors. In that class of roughly
25 students, only about '/3 of us don't/have never vaped.
In that same class last year, I watched one of the ambassadors beg another
ambassador for their vape. For a brief moment our teacher walked out of the classroom
to use the bathroom, trusting that he could leave us unattended—as soon as he walked
out of the door, one of the ambassadors pulled out his vape and started to use it; once
the other ambassador saw the vape, she ran up to him and practically begged him for it;
saying things like, "Give it to me!", "Please, I need it!". That's how bad their addiction is.
One of the other ambassadors in our school, who is seen as the "picture perfect
student" who always got a 4.0 GPA, 'a class officer, a part of clubs, and would volunteer
when help was needed, vapes. None of us would have ever expected her to vape. But
because of who she was friends with and the flavors available, she tried it and is now
addicted. It's now a regular necessity in her life.
Strawberry Milk, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon Lime, Vanilla Custard, the list goes on
and on. I'm asking that you please support us in banning the sale of flavored tobacco.
products that are so clearly targeting the youth. If it's the law that you need to be 21
years old to purchase tobacco products, why do the companies get to target the youth
with all these flavors that sound and taste like candy?
Youth tend to go towards vape because of the luring flavors. Think about it, would you
rather be breathing smoke or breathing candy? Vape companies are purposely
mimicking these flavors knowing that it attracts the youth; and if you start giving it to
Comm. No.
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Ref. pate :`_ C - 5 2023
them at a young enough age, they'll become addicted by the time they can legally
purchase one whenever they want.
I understand that adults have the right to vape and tobacco flavors would still be
available to them under the bill. But we need to protect the youth.
The human brain is still developing until the age of 25, so what happens when an
underaged child uses products that contain nicotine? It can disrupt the formation of
brain circuits that control attention, learning, and susceptibility to addiction. Not only is
nicotine harmful to a developing brain— it's also highly addictive. It only takes 5 mg of
nicotine a day to cause a minor to get a nicotine addiction and a singular Elf Bar can
have 650 mg of nicotine or the same as 590 cigarettes.
Youth are often asked to "Be the Change". But how can we if so many of us are
addicted to nicotine? How can we expect children to withstand the targeting of a huge
industry if they are providing brightly colored vapes that fit perfectly into our hands and
give us constant access to any flavor we desire?
Help protect us from an industry that would profit from our addiction. End the sale of all
flavored tobacco products in Hawai'i County.
Jensel Merice Jose
Hawi, Hawaii