An Ohio law prohibiting cities from banning the sale of flavored tobacco products is unconstitutional, a judge has ruled. The state is expected to appeal the ruling issued Friday by Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Serrott, who had issued a temporary restraining order in April that stopped the law from taking effect. The measure had become law in January, after the Republican Legislature overrode GOP Gov.
Mike DeWine’s veto of a budget measure that put regulatory powers in the hands of the state. The ruling stemmed from a suit brought by more than a dozen cities, including Columbus and Cincinnati, and Serrott's decision means their bans will stay in effect. The ruling, though, applies only to those cities and is not a statewide injunction.
The measure, vetoed in 2022 before reappearing in the state budget, said regulating tobacco and alternative nicotine products should be up to the state, not municipalities. It also prevented communities from voting to restrict things like flavored e-cigarettes and sales of flavored vaping products. Lawmakers passed the 2022 legislation days after Ohio’s capital city, Columbus, cleared its bans on the sale of flavored tobacco and menthol tobacco products, which would have been enacted early this year.
Anti-tobacco advocates, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and DeWine himself harshly criticized the override as a win for the tobacco industry, saying it enables addiction in children as tobacco and vaping produ.
