Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

Clay County Commissioners voted 3-2 to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, excluding menthol cigarettes and flavored chewing tobacco on Tuesday in Moorhead.
In a packed room during the public hearing, the board heard more advocacy from citizens for the ban than opposition.
According to Jason McCoy, Clay County tobacco prevention coordinator, the proposed ban on flavored tobacco is to prevent children from using tobacco products. He says between 87% and 92% of children who try tobacco products first try flavored tobacco.
“So, the way we look at it is the nicotine causes addiction and the chemicals in the product are what causes disease and sometimes even death in the long term, but flavor is what starts the ball rolling,” McCoy said.
Clay County’s tobacco ordinance does not apply to Moorhead, Dilworth or Barnesville, McCoy said. Those municipalities set their own tobacco ordinances and collect licensing fees from stores selling tobacco products, but are also responsible for compliance checks.
Commissioners David Ebinger, Paul Krabbenhoft and Frank Gross voted for the ban, with Commissioners Jenny Mongeau and Kevin Campbell opposing it.
The current ordinance is 12 years old, prompting Jason McCoy, Clay County tobacco prevention coordinator, to propose a more contemporary update.
McCoy said there have been numerous new state and national laws regarding this issue, including raising the legal usage age to 21.
“We’re always looking to protect kids,” McCoy said. “We’re trying to make sure that addiction doesn’t happen. And we know flavored tobacco is one of the big reasons why youth start using nicotine.”
McCoy presented two different options for the board to consider.
The first option advocated to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products.
The second, which the board opted for, bans the sale of flavored tobacco products as well (including vaping and kid-friendly products), but exclude menthol cigarettes and flavored chewing tobacco.
Both versions of the ordinance prohibited the sale of flavored vape products and nicotine pouches, such as Zyn.
McCoy also showed that a vast majority of teens in Minnesota who use tobacco use flavored products: 85 percent of 11th graders and 78 percent of eighth-graders. And more than 70 percent of e-cigarette users are showing signs of nicotine dependence.
“So what we know is that these flavors attract the youth, the nicotine provides the addiction, the chemicals that are actually in the products are what cause the disease and death over time,” McCoy said.
McCoy said one good bit of information about Minnesota is that overall tobacco usage has dropped from 20 to 18 percent. But he said on the flip side, the level of addiction is growing quickly.
McCoy pointed to menthol cigarettes as the original flavored cigarette specifically geared toward focusing on youth, women, LGBTQ and African Americans as target demographics. He said studies show that addiction is much more adhesive with menthols.
Nicotine, McCoy said, is also much more concentrated in today’s products and affects brain development in youth, and has also strongly been linked to anxiety and depression in teens.
“We know that the brain doesn’t cease development until you’re 25,” McCoy said. “That critical window is in our teens and in our youth, when their brain is fully forming. If there is such a thing as a gateway drug, nicotine is it.”
The nicotine concentration level in certain e-cigarettes, McCoy said, is equivalent to that of 590 regular cigarettes, an astronomical jump.
Minnesota Rep. Jim Joy, R-Hawley, said he opposed the proposed ban.
“I’m here representing my business (Kirk’s Super Stop) in Hawley,” Joy said. “I oppose this tobacco ban. What it is, it’s a toolbox in my chest. I want to be able to have all the tools available to sell to people if I want. In 2023, I sold $58,000 in flavored chewing tobacco that is being targeted right now.”
Joy said that represents a 95-percent tax to a wholesaler who comes in his store.
Clay County’s ordinance covers everything in the county outside of the cities Moorhead, Dilworth and Barnesville, all of which have standing ordinances already. At present, the county licenses 11 businesses, including Joy’s.
Lively and emotional commentary continued from members of the medical and educational communities, as well as high school students, all advocates of the ban. They cited their professional and personal experiences trying to help people with chronic addiction problems. These members of the public provided myriad anecdotes of the harm vaping and flavored tobacco has wrought on the area youth.
Hawley Mayor Sean Mork spoke against the ban, citing lost revenue in his city to consumers buying such products elsewhere.
The Moorhead City Council banned flavored tobacco in 2021. Dilworth also bans the sale of flavored tobacco products, McCoy said.