Beginning on July 1, 2023, the sale of most flavored tobacco products will be banned within Denver after the City Council narrowly approved the ban in an 8 to 3 vote on Monday.

With this final vote, flavored tobacco products will not be allowed to be sold in any establishments in Denver, with exemptions for hookah, natural cigars, pipe tobacco and harm-reduction tools. That means flavored menthol cigarettes, chewing tobacco and vaping products cannot be sold starting in 2023.

The ban was first proposed in early October by council members Amanda Sawyer and Deborah Ortega in an attempt to reduce youth tobacco use, particularly with vaping.

“We are making a public health decision to reduce the attractiveness of these products,” said Councilwoman Robin Kniech in support of the ban. “I welcome this step forward in reducing access to cancer-causing, addictive products in various forms, be they smoked or vaped.”

Monday’s vote comes after weeks of intense debate between council members and community members alike, with opponents arguing that the ban will have too negative an impact on local businesses and adult tobacco users.

Last week, the council narrowly voted down two proposed amendments to the ban that would have exempted menthol cigarettes and all flavored tobacco products sold within specialty age-restricted stores. The council approved an amendment to delay the ban from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023.

“The intent and the heart of what this bill is getting at is really important,” said Councilman Jolon Clark, who voted in support of the ban. “I voiced my disappointment last week that we weren’t able to find a way to use more of a scalpel when dealing with this issue.”

Clark argued the city would be better off addressing youth tobacco use by cracking down on the licenses and regulations of tobacco retailers, like by increasing penalties for selling to people under 21 or by only allowing tobacco products to be sold in specialty age-restricted stores.

In 2019, around 22% of tobacco retail stores in Denver were found to be violating age mandates — meaning retailers were not checking IDs or were knowingly selling to people under the age of 21, said Tristan Sanders, Denver’s director of community and behavioral health.

These checks were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, but since they restarted more than a month ago, the rate of retailers violating age mandates is up to 40% for the 20% of stores checked so far, Sanders said.

Other opponents argued that the ban wouldn’t achieve its desired goal of reducing youth tobacco use, instead pushing users to buy tobacco products online or in neighboring cities.

“It will not prevent kids from getting their hands on vaping products, but it will shut these businesses down,” said Councilwoman Kendra Black, who voted against the ban. “They have leases, they have employees, they have bills and they are willing to come to the table to work with us to address the real problem.”

In 2020, roughly 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 20 middle school students used e-cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of tobacco users between 12 and 17 years old, 81% said they started by using flavored products and 79% said they use a product because it comes in flavors they like, according to a study by the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health.