MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Clay County Commission bans the sale most flavored tobacco products.
It bans everything except menthol cigarettes and flavored chewing tobacco. The county’s tobacco ordinance does not apply to Moorhead, Barnesville or Dilworth since they set their own tobacco ordinances and enforce them.
Commissioners David Ebinger, Frank Gross and Paul Krabbenhoft supported the ban. Commissioner Kevin Campbell and Jenny Mongeau voted against it. Commissioners voted down an ordinance that would have banned all flavored tobacco products.
Clay County Tobacco Prevention Coordinator Jason McCoy shared Minnesota Department of Health data showing 85 percent of 11th graders and 78 percent of 8th graders who use tobacco report they use flavored products.
Republican State Representative Jim Joy, who owns Kirk’s Super Stop in Hawley, opposed the proposal saying his business did $58,000 in sales of flavored chewing tobacco in 2023 and people could easily go to nearby places that don’t have a ban like Lake Park to buy flavored tobacco. Joy says his business sells only FDA approved vapes.
“I want to have all the tools available to be able to sell to people if I want. That’s the choice of the business owner to choose what to sell and what I don’t want to sell,” Joy said.
A respiratory therapist says she has seen firsthand the damage smoking has done.
Nicotine addiction is an epidemic which starts in childhood. Many of them under the age of 10. Ninety percent before the age of 18. This is getting into the hands of our children. This is disturbing on many levels,” Becky Anderson of Fargo said.
