BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York State Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo) told WGRZ-TV on Thursday that she would work to exclude language banning the sale of menthol cigarettes from the state budget proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Peoples-Stokes, who serves as the Deputy Majority Leader, concurs with some of the opposition being raised by some who say such a ban would would disproportionately affect smokers who are people of color creating a policy with an inherent racial bias.
"I understand the impetus of the policy is to get people to stop smoking, which is a good thing," Peoples-Stokes said. "But I think it shouldn't be this selective. It goes way too deep ... and would be a mistake, so I will be working to have it excluded."
Some of Peoples-Stokes' concerns mirror those expressed by a group of Black ministers, who held a news conference in Buffalo on Thursday.
"We would pray everybody would stop smoking," said Rev. Carl Washington Jr., pastor of the New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Harlem. "But we live in country which is a country of choice, and we are now moving into being a country where we want to regulate the choices of people?"
Moreover, there is a concern that the move to ban menthol cigarettes will regulate the choice of Black adults in particular.
"There are racial preferences among adult smokers," said Rev. Frank Bostic of the Pilgrim Ministry Baptist Church of Buffalo, who cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"With about 85 percent of African-American smokers preferring menthol cigarettes versus white smokers, who prefer non-menthol, which would be exempt under the governor's proposal ... isn't it unjust to give communities of color a prohibition for the good of greater public health while white smokers are free to choose and their choices respected?"
The ministers also expressed concern that banning menthol cigarettes will then create a black market for them, which could lead to more police encounters and perhaps even racial profiling in neighborhoods of color.
"If you are asking if I'm worried about smokers lighting up and being stopped by police, then yes, I am," Bostic said.
Hochul's proposal would ban the sale of menthol cigarettes, not the consumption of them.
But even here, there is uneasiness.
"For example, when marijuana was illegal, it was criminal to possess it, not just to sell it," said Rev. Timothy Brown, President of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Buffalo and Vicinity. "So if the selling of menthol cigarettes becomes illegal, wouldn't it be just a matter of fact it's illegal to posses it?"
A different view
"Anyone in possession of a menthol cigarette would not be arrested and would not be criminalized, so that's just a myth," said Stanley Martin of the anti-smoking group Advancing Tobacco Free Communities, who attended the minister's news conference, and who also noted the preference of Black smokers for menthols.
"45,000 African-Americans die each year as a result of tobacco use, and menthol tobacco use in particular," said Martin, while noting studies that indicate menthol cigarettes can be more addicting making it harder for a smoker to quit.