Rochester, Minn. — Apr. 28, 2026 — Today, the Love Your Lungs Olmsted coalition announced its launch alongside local youth, parents, healthcare professionals and school administrators. The coalition made the case for stronger policy and regulations around commercial flavored tobacco products in Olmsted County. More than 30% of Minnesotans already live in communities that have passed policies to limit the sale of flavored tobacco, including Rice, Brown and Nobles County in southern Minnesota.

The tobacco industry has a long history of targeting kids with candy-like flavors and misleading marketing to build a customer base of lifelong users. National data show nearly 95% of adult smokers begin smoking before they turn 21, and the ages of 18 to 21 are a critical period when many smokers move from experimental smoking to regular daily use. Nearly 14% of Minnesota high school students reported using e-cigarettes during the past 30 days. Youth are becoming addicted to flavored tobacco without understanding what it does to their body and mind. In some cases, youth are choosing to use flavored tobacco to cope with mental health challenges — only to further disrupt brain development and health. The Love Your Lungs Olmsted coalition recognizes that without intervention, our kids will continue to remain at risk.

“These companies are creating tobacco and nicotine products that target young children and our most vulnerable youth — youth who have felt unwanted, not good enough or are struggling with their sense of self,” said Dr. Katie Johnson, child abuse pediatrician in the region. “For these children, flavored vapes may be more accessible, cheaper and more appealing than mental health care. Protection for our youth needs to extend further than individual efforts aimed at adolescents and their parents; it needs to include common sense regulations on products that victimize our children and threaten to lock them into a lifetime of addiction.”

“We know the brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. So, why would we knowingly allow our kids to have access to products that harm their brain development?” said Dr. Cree Kachelski, emergency medicine pediatrician in the region. “From a scientific standpoint, teens are particularly susceptible. The executive center of their brain, where we see large pleasure activation, is not fully developed and Big Tobacco is taking advantage of that. Add in their need and desire for social acceptance and we see too many kids starting an addiction cycle that is hard to break.”

Flavors hook kids and the tobacco industry knows it. Products with flavors like cotton candy, watermelon and cool mint are designed to appeal to young people, making it easier for them to start. Kids remain addicted well into adulthood because the flavors got them started. Tobacco remains the number one killer in Minnesota and costs Minnesotans over $4.7 billion in excess health care costs associated with smoking every year.

The numbers speak for themselves: 76% of Minnesota students who have ever tried a commercial tobacco product started with a flavored one. Among Minnesota students:

• 81% of those who use tobacco used a flavored product (menthol or other flavors) in the past 30 days.
• 80% of those who vaped in the past 30 days are showing signs of addiction.
• 70% of those who used tobacco in the past 30 days wish they could quit, many saying they have tried 10 or more times.

“What’s most concerning within schools right now isn’t just the rule-breaking; it’s the dependency,” said Katie Morlock, principal of Stewartville High School. “We’re seeing students as young as 15 who can’t get through a class period without vaping. Our students deserve to walk into school focused on their future, not distracted by addiction. With the right leadership and policy decisions, that’s a future we can absolutely give them.”

“Addiction doesn’t look the way people expect. It looks like a student who can’t make it through a class period without thinking about vaping,” said Christa Welbon, chemical health specialist at John Adams Middle School. “It looks like anxiety, irritability, and an inability to focus. It looks like slipping grades, strained friendships, and declining mental health. What I am seeing in our schools is not just a trend—it’s a growing public health crisis affecting our children.”

“The first time I really noticed vaping wasn’t through a headline or a statistic. It was in school,” said Tej Bhagra, Rochester high school student and Minnesota Youth Council representative. “Seeing it in bathrooms, hearing about it at social gatherings and realizing how normal it had become. What stood out to me wasn’t just that people were trying it, it was how quickly it went from something casual to something people relied on. And that’s the part that sticks with you. You start to see people your age, people you know, getting hooked on nicotine before they even fully understand what that means.”

“Like many families in Olmsted County, my kids are growing up surrounded by messages, products and pressures that didn’t exist a generation ago,” said Shantal Maharaj, campaign coordinator for Love Your Lungs Olmsted. “The data made it impossible for me to stay on the sidelines. Vaping is now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth and research shows that most young people who vape start with flavored products. We need policymakers, schools, health professionals, parents and the media working together to reduce youth vaping and limit the access of these flavored products.”

Big Tobacco knows exactly what it’s doing — hooking another generation to tobacco. Now is the time to take action in Olmsted County.