Biden Administration Delays Ban on Menthol Cigarettes as Black Leaders Pan Proposal

The Biden administration decided to delay a ban on menthol cigarettes after receiving criticism from black voters and cigarette companies.

President Joe Biden and his administration have considered a looming ban on menthol cigarettes since 2021.

While health officials have been in favor of banning menthol cigarettes because black smokers are far more likely to purchase menthol cigarettes than white smokers, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have argued that such a ban would have “serious racial justice implications.”

Gwen Carr — the mother of Eric Garner, who died in July 2014 after Daniel Pantaleo, a former New York Police Department officer, placed him in a chokehold — has spoken out against the ban.

Garner was stopped outside a convenience store because officers believed he had been selling untaxed cigarettes.

In a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) from November 2023, Carr noted that the ban on menthol cigarettes could create “an illicit market,” leading to “increased negative encounters with police in communities of color.”

“This rule has garnered historic attention, and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

The White House has faced pushback on the ban from cigarette companies and others in opposition, according to the New York Times.

At the beginning of April, anti-smoking groups filed a lawsuit against the United States government in an effort to push it to move forward with the ban on menthol cigarettes, which seems to be at a standstill.

This came after White House officials announced in December 2023 that they would be taking more time to review a plan to ban menthol cigarettes.

A poll that the Wall Street Journal conducted in early April found that 30 percent of black men had expressed support for former President Donald Trump.

While the poll found that 57 percent of black men were planning to vote for Biden, 30 percent threw their support behind Trump. Meanwhile, 77 percent of black women said they were going to vote for Biden, and 11 percent said they were going to vote for Trump.

President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Derrick Johnson issued a statement slamming Biden for not “prioritizing people.” He stated, “In an election year, politicians should be prioritizing people, not profiteers. Today’s news from the Biden Administration is a blow to the Black community, who continue to be unfairly targeted and unjustly killed by Big Tobacco.”

“Let’s be clear – valuing Black lives should not be used as a pawn to get our people to the polls, but rather a platform that our leaders refuse to step down from,” Johnson concluded.