Race permeates political discussions these days, and this week the Denver City Council offered the debate in the flavors of cotton candy, lemon, gummy bear or menthol.

Denver is the latest city to consider a ban on flavored vaping products, matching a federal ban on flavors sold by major e-cigarette makers that took affect in September. Small, independent stores can still sell them, though.

Anti-tobacco crusaders want to advance their line by putting smaller stores out of business, and local government has proven the best avenue. The battle cry is that kids get hooked on smoking by inhaling tasty vapes with such delights as whiffs of cinnamon toast.

Democrats who run the Colorado General Assembly couldn’t get a ban out of the House last year. 

It’s a public health issue, but it’s also a tax issue. Colorado collects a penny tax per cigarette, a 2.9% sales tax and a 20% excise tax on non-cigarette tobacco products – 27% of which is allocated to local governments. Legislative budget analysts said the ban would cost the state budget $129.3 million last year.

Next week the Denver City Council is expected make a final decision on a ban, but Monday night they heard the question is loaded.

The Denver Public Schools Board of Education sent along a proclamation supporting the ban by alleging “flavors play a major role in youth to use of e-cigarettes because they mask the taste of tobacco and make it easier for new users to initiate use.”

The school board cited the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids‘ allegation that 25.9% of Colorado high school students use e-cigarettes and 1,400 a year pick up the habit.

More than 40 people signed up to speak Monday night, and some of them argued that banning flavored puffs, especially menthol, disproportionally affected Black people.

“Politics is one thing, but life is something else,” Alvertis Simmons said.

He said Black people could see what was going on in a discussion ostensibly about public health that immediately turned to exempting premium cigars – “which old white men with money smoke,” the Black activist said – and spices for a hookah pipe that are deemed culturally relevant.

Simmons said menthol cigarettes are culturally relevant to Black smokers. 

“Is the next thing you’re going to do is tell us Black people not to eat collard greens?” he told the diverse City Council. “I mean, at the end of the day, you talk about fairness, but you have to be fair. You talk about being equitable. Then treat us as if we are equitable and as the folks who are constituents. You have to treat us like you do when you come to our community and ask for our votes. You have to treat us the same, and we’re asking you: don’t ban menthol cigarettes.”

Brian Fojtik, a Denver resident who works for the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, said zealotry for and against tobacco, based on suppositions and hidden agendas, has put mom-and-pop smoke shops, gas stations and convenience stores in economic peril. 

Many of those stores in Colorado are owned by immigrants, he said.

The industry hopes the City Council opts for stronger licensing, best practices and regulation, rather than shut down a revenue stream with government’s heavy hand on adults, some of whom are trying to wean off tobacco one mild cherry puff at a time.

The ban wouldn’t take effect until July 2023, and it doesn’t ultimately reach its goal – breaking the nicotine chain – but encourages more of it.

Banning flavors sold by Coloradans drives an unwitting monopoly for big e-cig makers such as JUUL, Vuse and NJOY. Yes, they were halted from selling the less potent flavored vapes in September.

Barring independent sellers, however, drives those addicted or considering taking up the habit into the loving arms of the higher-nicotine products sold by big the big companies. The rich get richer.

Anybody who wants the vapes only has to take their tax dollars across the municipal boundary to communities such as Lakewood or Aurora.

Most of the facts line up against enacting a ban, but you can’t put a number on a person’s lungs, unless you’re talking life expectancy.

Politics is a smoke-and-mirrors proposition, however.

Whether the flavor ban is aimed at Black people is uncomfortable to think about, but one Black Denverite after another said they believe it, and perception is reality.

Race is as important a topic as we have on our crowded national agenda right now. The fact that it’s everywhere at once, though, is bound to tire even the most sympathetic foot soldiers.

Less is probably more, Denver.