Cancer Votes is the nation’s leading election program educating the public and candidates about the actions lawmakers should take to make fighting cancer a national priority. ACS CAN asked the candidates running for Atlanta mayor to answer questions that are important to cancer patients, survivors, and their families. Listen to their responses.
Question 1: Will you protect and not weaken Atlanta’s smoke-free law that covers all workplaces, including bars, restaurants, and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and protects everyone’s right to breathe smoke-free air?
ACS CAN position: Yes, everyone has the right to breathe smoke-free air, and no one should have to choose between their health and a good job.
Andre Dickens
Felicia Moore
Question 2: Will you support ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco products including cigars, shisha, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes in Atlanta?
ACS CAN position: Yes. Ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco products is critical to stopping the youth tobacco use epidemic and creating the first tobacco-free generation. The evidence is clear that flavors play a key role in youth initiation and continued use of tobacco products. Flavors improve the taste and mask the harshness of tobacco products, making it easier for kids to try these products and ultimately become addicted. The tobacco industry has a long history of aggressively targeting African American and LGBTQ communities with their deadly and addictive flavored products. As a result, African Americans consistently report the highest prevalence of menthol cigarette use. Ending the sale of menthol cigarettes isn’t just a health issue, it’s a social justice issue. It will stop the tobacco industry’s predatory marketing and save lives, especially Black lives.
Andre Dickens
Felicia Moore
Question 3: Tobacco control laws and policies, including regulations on the sale and use of tobacco products, are first and foremost public health measures. Would you support ensuring the enforcement of tobacco control laws rests with an entity other than the police, and focusing enforcement practices on businesses rather than individuals, especially youth?
ACS CAN position: Yes. To save lives, especially Black and Brown lives, local governments must adopt legal and policy frameworks that facilitate the effective, equitable enforcement of commercial tobacco control laws by holding businesses and other tobacco industry actors accountable for violations. Enforcement practices aimed at commercial tobacco retail sales establishments must occur in a data-driven, evidence-based, and equitable manner. Authority for the enforcement of commercial tobacco control laws must be vested in public health or other non-police officials. Law enforcement should not approach, harass, or arrest individuals in structurally marginalized communities, especially children of color, because they have a tobacco product in their possession. The use of physical force against people suspected or guilty of violating commercial tobacco control laws should be eliminated.
Andre Dickens
Felicia Moore