Oregon state lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit the sale of flavored nicotine products statewide.

While well-intended in its motives, as a former DARE and school resource officer, I fear it would not only fail to reduce teen smoking but also create new challenges for law enforcement that could spike crime in the state.

When I served as a police officer, program manager and police lieutenant at three law enforcement agencies in Oregon, we adhered to a problem-oriented policing model, where we would identify and analyze specific issues to develop effective response strategies. While I see how cracking down on underage sales, targeting illegal supply chains, and hosting broad educational campaigns targeted at schools and parents would help reduce Oregon youth’s use of these products, I fail to see how banning legal flavored vapes from the marketplace — and having the Oregon Police department enforce such a ban — would prove additive.

Teens are already buying most of these products from the illicit marketplace. Rather than eliminating teens’ use of menthol cigarettes and flavored vapes, a ban on these legal products would only strengthen the black marketplace, all while pushing these products into the hands of illicit traffickers, creating a new source of revenue for organized crime.

We’ve seen this happen before. Massachusetts implemented a similar ban in 2020 — today, menthol smoking rates in the state remain nearly unchanged. Instead, an illegal market has flourished, fueling crime and stretching law enforcement resources thin. Just ask the Boston police, which recently made a major bust involving a man trafficking cocaine and 700 packages of unstamped cigarettes. In another case, Dorchester police arrested an illicit tobacco trafficker with multiple packages of unstamped menthol cigarettes, bags of marijuana, a loaded 9 mm handgun, and cash. These examples show how, if Oregon moves forward with a ban on flavored vapes and menthol cigarettes, it will not reduce use of these products — but it could actively contribute to increased crime.

Of course, minors are already prohibited from purchasing these products, so this ban is really targeted at adults. Oregon law enforcement is already overburdened. Year after year, new reports get released emphasizing the size and scope of the state’s current policing staffing crisis. A flavored tobacco ban would stretch their already limited resources even thinner. It would force officers to divert their resources from addressing violent crime to policing adults’ personal choices — and this is in no one’s interest.

Tobacco trafficking may sound like a small issue, but it is a lucrative criminal enterprise. The federal government even previously identified international tobacco smuggling as a national security threat because criminal organizations use the profits to fund other illicit activities — even terrorism. Here in Oregon, we don’t need to give gangs and organized crime another cash cow.

If Oregon lawmakers are serious about addressing concerns over flavored tobacco, they should focus on enforcing the laws that already on the state’s books. The real issue isn’t legal, regulated products — it’s a combination of teens’ easy ability to purchase these products underage and the flood of illegal, unregulated e-cigarettes from China that contain far more nicotine than authorized alternatives.

Instead of banning all flavored tobacco, Oregon should crack down on illegal imports and illegal sales to minors. They should also educate retailers on which products on their shelves are (and aren’t) lawful. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is already doing this on the federal level, and he could use the Oregon statehouse’s help.

Crime, homelessness and drug addiction are serious problems in Oregon. The state’s law enforcement resources should be directed toward these crises — not micromanaging the behavior of law-abiding adults. Problem-oriented policing means targeting the root causes of crime, not creating new black markets that fuel illegal activity.

Banning flavored tobacco won’t achieve its intended goals. It will only empower criminals and drain law enforcement resources. I urge our elected officials to put public safety first and reject this misguided ban.

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Scott Dye of Salem has a 40-year background in law enforcement.