The DC Council has voted to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco products in the District, including menthol cigarettes, reports The Washington Post.

According to the report, the 8-to-5 vote came after a lengthy debate in which legislators who opposed the ban — and even some who supported it — raised concerns that the law could create opportunities for Black smokers to be harassed by police, and that the city would be unfairly targeting a smoking choice preferred by Black residents.
It was the council’s second vote in favour of the legislation, meaning it will now head to the desk of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, who supports the ban for health reasons and is expected to sign it into law.
The District joins the state of Massachusetts and several other cities across the country in banning menthol cigarettes, which are popular among Black smokers, along with other flavoured tobacco products such as the candy- and fruit-flavoured e-cigarettes that critics say are targeted toward enticing teenagers to smoke.
The Biden administration has vowed to eventually ban such flavoured tobacco products, including menthol, nationwide, the report said.
The DC bill bans the sale of the products in the District but does not criminalise an individual’s smoking of a cigarette.
The council made one exception — all shisha bars in the city which already have an exemption from the city’s ban on indoor smoking in restaurants will be grandfathered in, and can continue offering flavoured shisha for use on their own premises.