Arizona people look to local law enforcement to keep their communities safe.
That is especially true today as we face some of the greatest security challenges in decades, from rising violent crime rates and the opioid epidemic to the crisis along our southern border.
But Washington regulators are giving local police departments new, unfunded powers that risk diverting our attention from tackling these challenges.
In the coming weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will finalize the new rules Criminalize flavored tobacco products.
These flavored tobacco products have historically been legal and regulated.
New FDA rules could create an illicit market
As Sheriff of Cochise County, my department is the Supreme Law Enforcement Agency covering 6,215 square miles of territory with over 130 miles of shared border with Mexico.
As I warned the Biden administration last year, this ban-based policy would have profound implications not only for my agency, but also for law enforcement agencies across the United States and the communities we serve. . Because it would just create a new large illegal market in the world. Products that the FDA is seeking to eliminate.
States that have independently attempted criminal bans on these products, such as Massachusetts, Illegal Product Sales Soar.
The United States is already facing a growing illegal market for tobacco products, due in part to high taxes on legally sold cigarettes.
Banning the legal sale of currently regulated products would create powerful economic incentives for domestic and international cartels and criminal networks to intervene to supply unmet demand.
It can fuel cartels and intensify crime
With such strong financial incentives, the question is not whether the illicit market for flavored cigarettes will grow, but how large it will be.
In fact, the US State Department issued a report In 2018, we carefully detailed the multiple layers of serious crimes associated with illegal tobacco trafficking, including violent crimes, property crimes, human trafficking and terrorism.
What Arizona needs most is an entirely new category of controlled substance that could generate billions of new dollars in the criminal networks we work tirelessly to mitigate the threat to society. is.
The FDA claims the ban would only be enforced against tobacco manufacturers, not individuals, but in fact all 50 states, including Arizona, treat trafficking of illegal tobacco products as a serious crime. subject to arrest, prosecution or prosecution. imprisonment.
Tobacco policy belongs to regulators, not police
Faced with an influx of illegal products as a result of this new ban, law enforcement will now become the Menthol Tobacco Police, investigating illegal manufacturing in the country, smuggling at borders and ports of entry, and illegal distribution within and outside the state. will be hindered. line, and ultimately illegal sales in the community.
FDA’s proposal thus represents an unfunded authority for law enforcement to shift responsibility for policing these tobacco products to state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies, but these new Insufficient resources to meet responsibilities.
We do not endorse or endorse the use of tobacco. It should be commended that menthol cigarette use, like other tobacco indicators, is at a historically low level.
But tobacco policy belongs to regulators, not police.
There are much better options to further reduce tobacco use without transferring these products to the criminal justice system.
Given the many challenges we face in keeping Arizona communities safe, a tobacco ban is not what we need most right now.
Mark J. Donnells is a sheriff for Cochise County, Arizona. In his nearly 40 years in law enforcement, he has served on the US Department of Homeland Security Advisory Board, the National Sheriffs Association, the Southwestern Border Sheriff, and others.
