Dear Editor:
Chicago is considering repealing provisions in the law that restrict the sale of flavored tobacco including menthol near schools.
As a psychologist that has spent more than 10 years working with cancer patients, I have seen first-hand the ravaging effects of tobacco use most of which started with menthol. My current work is focused on the development of effective smoking cessation treatments for underserved populations of smokers including HIV+ positive smokers, low-income, African American smokers, and LGBT smokers.
Among active adult smokers, there is a disproportionate use of menthol cigarettes among African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics and the LGBT community. Among the youth smokers of those same communities, menthol and favored tobacco is the preferred product because it is heavily marketed to them and menthol masks the harshness of tobacco.
I also have a personal investment in efforts to curb tobacco addiction. My mother died three years at the age of 64 from lung cancer. My mother was a beautiful, intelligent, and fiercely independent woman. She started smoking menthol at age 13 as a teenager in the 60's when more than half of all adults were current smokers.
I ask that the City Council keep the flavored tobacco and menthol restrictions. Too many lives, like those of my mother, are lost to tobacco. We need to do all we can to prevent the tobacco industry from addicting more of our loved ones.
Sincerely,
Phoenix Matthews, Ph.D.
Professor
Helen Grace Diversity Scholar
Director, Recruitment and Retention Core, Center for Clinical and Translation Science
University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Nursing