Earlier this year, along with our partners at ChangeLab Solutions, we published a resource on this topic called the Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook. It equips tobacco prevention staff and their partners with the knowledge, context, and resources needed to understand how preemption influences their work.

In this episode, we talk through some of the basics of what preemption means, the different forms it can take, how to determine what your community’s local authority to pass policy actually is, and ways that communities across the country are making progress despite being preempted. Listen below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Click here to read the transcript.

Resources:

• Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook, Counter Tools and ChangeLab Solutions 
• Recorded Webinar: The Effects of Preemption & Opportunities for Action in Preempted States
• Recorded Webinar: Reversing Preemption: A Colorado Case Study
• Preemption Key Messaging, Voices for Healthy Kids 
• Preemption Message Manual, Voices for Healthy Kids 
• Preemption Message Wheel, Voices for Healthy Kids 
• For more information about lobbying limitations and alternatives, if you are a CDC funded entity see:
  • Guidance on Anti-Lobbying Restrictions for CDC Grantees
  • Guidance on Additional Requirement – 12: Lobbying Restrictions

Find additional resources on the CounterTobacco Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption page.

These provisions are designed to prevent the sale of tobacco to minors and to reduce the appeal of tobacco products and tobacco product advertising that are targeted to youth. Learn more about why AVCs are beneficial and how local and state tobacco control programs can help.

Listen:

Listen below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Resources:

• AVC snapshots: includes the who, what, where, when, and why of each retailer agreement.
• Retailer-by-retailer summary: includes basic provisions and which states are signatories to each agreement.
• Full text of each AVC
• Fact sheet from the Public Health Law Center: >Using Retailer AVCs as a Tool in Tobacco Control 
• Counter Tools’ Healthy Point of Sale Webinar: Assurances of Voluntary Compliance 
• AVC Field Inspection Form
• AVC Field Inspection Form Instructions
• Want to conduct the inspections using a mobile electronic form? Contact Counter Tools!

Research:

• Dai H, Catley D. The effects of assurances of voluntary compliance on retail sales to minors in the United States: 2015-2016. Prev Med. 2018;111:410-414. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.11.036
• Krevor BS, Lieberman A, Gerlach K. Application of consumer protection authority in preventing tobacco sales to minors. Tobacco Control 2002;11:109-111
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Johnson TO, Lee JGL. Assurances of Voluntary Compliance: A Regulatory Mechanism to Reduce Youth Access to E-Cigarettes and Limit Retail Tobacco Marketing. Am J Public Health. 2020;110(2):209-215. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305436

Listen below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Read a transcript of this episode.

Store Assessment Resources and Case Studies:

• Store Assessment Tools, CounterTobacco.org
  • STARS
  • fSTARS
    • Summary report: Surveying How the Tobacco Industry Markets Flavors in Five Midwestern Cities 
    • Full report and fSTARS form: Retail Store Assessments for Flavored Tobacco Products: Pilots in Tobacco Nation 
  • vSTARS
    • vSTARS was used to complete a statewide census of vape shops in the state of New Hampshire. They were able to assess product availability, price promotions, product messaging, as well as see how vape shops distinguish themselves from conventional tobacco retailers.
    • Kong AY, Eaddy JL, Morrison SL, Asbury D, Lindell KM, Ribisl KM. Using the Vape Shop Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings (V-STARS) to Assess Product Availability, Price Promotions, and Messaging in New Hampshire Vape Shop Retailers. Tob Regul Sci. 2017;3(2):174-182. doi:10.18001/TRS.3.2.
  • Video: Conducting Store Observations for Tobacco Control
  • Video: Using Store Observations for Point of Sale Tobacco Control Policy Change
• Feld AL, Johnson TO, Byerly KW, Ribisl KM. How to Conduct Store Observations of Tobacco Marketing and Products. Prev Chronic Dis 2016;13:150504. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd13.150504external icon.
• Combs, T. B., Brosi, D., Chaitan, V. L., He, E., Luke, D. A., & Henriksen, L. (2019). Local retail tobacco environment regulation: Early adoption in the United States. Tobacco Regulatory Science, 5(1), 76-86. https://doi.org/10.18001/TRS.5.1.7
• Assessing Retail Environments with STARS: Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings, Center for Public Health Systems Science
• Addressing Tobacco-Related Health Inequities: Resources to Inform Point-of-Sale Policies, ChangeLab Solutions
• Assessing and Improving the Landscape of Food and Alcohol Products in Stores – A Wisconsin Success Story, Counter Tools
• Healthy Stores for a Healthy Community
• Vermont Tobacco Control 2014 Counter Tools Store Audit Report, Vermont Department of Health, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
• Point-of-Sale Scavenger Hunt, CounterTobacco.org

Other research and resources cited:

• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Johnson TO, Roeseler A, Zhu S-H. Retail Tobacco Marketing in Rural Versus Nonrural Counties: Product Availability, Discounts, and Prices. Health Promotion Practice. 2020;21(1_suppl):27S-36S. doi:10.1177/1524839919888652
• Keller-Hamilton B, Ferketich AK, Berman M, Conrad E, Roberts ME. Cigarette Prices in Rural and Urban Ohio: Effects of Census Tract Demographics. Health Promotion Practice. 2020;21(1_suppl):37S-43S. doi:10.1177/1524839919881141
• Kong AY, Queen TL, Golden SD, Ribisl KM. Neighborhood Disparities in the Availability, Advertising, Promotion, and Youth Appeal of Little Cigars and Cigarillos, United States, 2015, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 2170–2177, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa005
• Mills SD, Golden SD, Henriksen L, Kong AY, Queen TL, Ribisl KM. Neighbourhood disparities in the price of the cheapest cigarettes in the USA. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2019;73(9):894-896. doi:10.1136/jech-2018-210998
• Ribisl KM, D’Angelo H, Feld AL, et al. Disparities in tobacco marketing and product availability at the point of sale: Results of a national study. Prev Med. 2017;105:381-388. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.04.010
• Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids 

Listen below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Read a transcript of this episode

Resources:

• Fact Sheet: Point-of-Sale Tobacco Pricing Policies, ChangeLab Solutions & CounterTobaco.org
• Infographic: Point-of-Sale Tobacco Pricing Policies ChangeLab Solutions & CounterTobaco.org
• Increasing Tobacco Prices through Non-Tax Approaches, CounterTobacco.org
• Case Studies:
  • Regulating Price Discounting in Providence, RI
  • Reducing Cheap Tobacco & Youth Access: New York City.
  • Point-of-Sale Pricing Policies in St. Paul: A Story from the Field
• Fact Sheet: Minimum Floor Price Laws, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• Webinars from ChangeLab Solutions
  • Part 1: Minimum Floor Price Laws: A Strategy to Reduce Tobacco-Related Socioeconomic Inequities
  • Part 2: A Deeper Dive on Tobacco Minimum Floor Price Laws
• Fact Sheet: Price-Related Promotions for Tobacco Products: An Introduction to Key Terms & Concepts, Public Health Law Center
• Fact Sheet: Taxation of Tobacco Products: An Introduction to Key Terms & Concepts, Public Health Law Center
• U.S. State Tobacco Taxes, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Raising Cigarette Taxes Reduces Smoking, Especially Among Kids (And The Cigarette Companies Know It), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Pricing Policies: A Tobacco Control Guide, Public Health Law Center & Center for Public Health Systems Science
• Equitable Enforcement: Decriminalizing Commercial Tobacco: Addressing Systemic Racism in the Enforcement of Commercial Tobacco Control

Referenced Research:

• Brown-Johnson CG, England LJ, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry marketing to low socioeconomic status women in the U.S.A. Tob Control. 2014;23(e2):e139-e146. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051224
• Cornelius ME, Wang TW, Jamal A, Loretan CG, Neff LJ. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:1736–1742. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6946a4
• Doogan NJ, Wewers ME, Berman M. The impact of a federal cigarette minimum pack price policy on cigarette use in the USA. Tobacco Control 2018;27:203-208.
• Golden SD, Farrelly MC, Luke DA, Ribisl KM. Comparing projected impacts of cigarette floor price and excise tax policies on socioeconomic disparities in smoking. Tobacco Control. 2016;25(Suppl 1):i60-i66. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053230.
• Henriksen L, Andersen-Rodgers E, Zhang X, et al. Neighborhood variation in the price of cheap tobacco products in California: results from health stores for a healthy community. Nicotine & Tobacco Res. 2017;19(11),1330-1337. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntx089;
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Dauphinee AL, Fortmann SP. Targeted advertising, promotion, and price for menthol cigarettes in California high school neighborhoods. Nicotine & Tobacco Res. 2012;14(1),1116-1121. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntr122.
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Johnson TO, Anderson-Rogers E, Zhang X, Williams RJ. Mind the Gap: Changes in Cigarette Prices after California’s Tax Increase. Tob Regul Sci. 2019;5(6):532-540. doi: 18001/TRS.5.6.5
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Johnson TO, Roeseler A, Zhu S-H. Retail Tobacco Marketing in Rural Versus Nonrural Counties: Product Availability, Discounts, and Prices. Health Promotion Practice. 2020;21(1_suppl):27S-36S. doi:1177/1524839919888652
• Keller-Hamilton B, Ferketich AK, Berman M, Conrad E, Roberts ME. Cigarette Prices in Rural and Urban Ohio: Effects of Census Tract Demographics. Health Promotion Practice. 2020;21(1_suppl):37S-43S. doi:1177/1524839919881141
• Kephart L, Song G, Henley P, Ursprung WS. Single Cigar Price and Availability in Communities With and Without a Cigar Packaging and Pricing Regulation. Prev Chronic Dis 2019;16:180624. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.180624external icon
• Kong AY, King BA. Boosting the Tobacco Control Vaccine: recognizing the role of the retail environment in addressing tobacco use and disparities. Tob Control. 2021 Dec;30(e2):e162-e168. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055722. Epub 2020 Sep 23. PMID: 32967986.
• Kong AY, Queen TL, Golden SD, Ribisl, KM. Neighborhood Disparities in the Availability, Advertising, Promotion, and Youth Appeal of Little Cigars and Cigarillos, United States, 2015, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 2170–2177, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa005
• Lee JGL, Henriksen L, Rose SW, et al. A systematic review of neighborhood disparities in Point-of-Sale tobacco marketing. Am J Public Health 2015;105:e8–18
• Slater SJ, Chaloupka FJ, Wakefield M, Johnston LD, O’Malley PM. The impact of retail cigarette marketing practices on youth smoking uptake. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(5):440–445. doi:10.1001/archpedi.161.5.440
• Ribisl KM, D’Angelo H, Feld AL, Schleicher NC, Golden SD, Luke DA, Henriksen L. Disparities in tobacco marketing and product availability at the point of sale: Results of a national study. Prev Med. 2017 Dec;105:381-388. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.04.010. Epub 2017 Apr 6. PMID: 28392252; PMCID: PMC5630502.
• Tauras J, Pesko M, Huang J, Chaloupka F, Farrelly M. The Effect of Cigarette Prices on Cigarette Sales: Exploring Heterogeneity in Price Elasticities at High and Low Prices. National Bureau of Economic Research; 2016. doi:10.3386/w22251.

Listen below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Read a transcript of this podcast episode.

More on synthetic nicotine and how it could be regulated:

• Zettler, P. J., Hemmerich, N., & Berman, M. L. (2018). Closing the Regulatory Gap for Synthetic Nicotine Products. Boston College law review. Boston College. Law School, 59(6), 1933–1982.
• Truth Initiative. (2021, April 6). “What you need to know about new synthetic nicotine products.” Accessed September 15, 2021.

Additional sources:

• Blackwell, JR. (2021, January 15). With its non-tobacco Zyn product, Swedish Match is a leader in a growing category of alternative nicotine products. Richmond Time-Dispatch. Accessed September 17, 2021. Retrieved from Richmond.com
• Craver, R.(2020, July 16). FDA orders removal of Camel dissolvable products. The products have been off store shelves since 2013, Reynolds says. Winston-Salem Journal. Accessed September 17, 2021. Retrieved from journalnow.com.
• CSP Daily News. (2020, October 16). “Nicotine Pouches: Tobacco’s Fast-Growing Subcategory.” Accessed September 15, 2021. Retrieved from cspdailynews.com.
• Dissolvable Tobacco Products. Updated June 14, 2018. Accessed September 17, 2021.
• Modified Risk Tobacco Products. Updated July 20, 2021. Accessed September 17, 2021.
• Tobacco Product Applications: Metrics & Reporting. Updated August 13, 2021. Accessed September 17, 2021.
• Marynak KL, Wang X, Borowiecki M, et al. Nicotine Pouch Unit Sales in the US, 2016-2020. 2021;326(6):566–568. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.10366
• Ramamurthi, D. (2021, June 8). Recreational Oral Nicotine [conference presentation]. 2021 Tobacco Policy and Responsible Retailing Conference.
• Raskind, I.G. February 24, 2021. Sales of “tobacco-free” nicotine pouches in 30 major US cities. [conference presentation] 2021 Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT) Conference. https://aspirecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ASPiRE_SRNT_Raskind_Slides_2021.mp4
• Raskind, I. (2021, June 8). “Flavor-ban approved”? Sales of tobacco free nicotine pouches in 30 US cities [conference presentation]. 2021 Tobacco Policy and Responsible Retailing Conference.
• Truth Initiative. (2021, May 7). “Oral nicotine products entice customers with “tobacco free” claims, falsely implying lower risk.” Accessed Sept 15, 2021.
• Truth Initiative. (2021, February 9). “What is Zyn and what are oral nicotine pouches?” Accessed September 15, 2021.

Endgame strategies have been defined as “initiatives designed to change/eliminate permanently the structural, political, and social dynamics that sustain the tobacco epidemic, in order to end it within a specific time,” and moving towards the endgame means, “moving beyond tobacco control (which assumes the continued presence of tobacco as a common, widely-available ordinary consumer product) toward a tobacco-free future wherein commercial tobacco products would be phased out or their use and availability significantly restricted.”

This episode describes what the “endgame” means for commercial tobacco control, the range of strategies it could involve, how point-of-sale policies can play a critical role in it, and highlights some examples of places that are already implementing endgame policies.

Listen below or on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Download the episode transcript here

Sources and Resources:

• The tobacco endgame: a qualitative review and synthesis, Tobacco Control
• Endgame Report, Cancer Research UK
  
• Project Sunset, Action on Smoking & Health
• An argument for phasing out cigarettes sales, Tobacco Control
• Not for Sale: State Authority to End Cigarette Sales, Mitchell Hamline Law Review
• Tobacco giant Philip Morris sees a future without cigarettes – but there’s a catch, Los Angeles Times
• Spinning a New Tobacco Industry: How Big Tobacco is Trying to Sell a Do-Gooder Image and What Americans Think About It, Truth Initiative
• Philip Morris-Funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Navigating the Takings Clause While Ending the Tobacco Epidemic, Public Health Law Center
• An end to cigarettes? New Zealand aims to create smoke-free generation, The Guardian
• WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Neighborhood Inequities in Tobacco Retailer Density and the Presence of Tobacco-Selling Pharmacies and Tobacco Shops, Health Education & Behavior
• Restricting Product Availability, CounterTobacco.org
• Four Manhattan Beach Retailers Allowed to Sell Tobacco Products, Patch.com
• Manhattan Beach Tobacco Sales Ban Ordinance
• Beverly Hills Tobacco Sales Ban Ordinance
• Dolgeville, NY: Retail Environment Tobacco Law, Action on Smoking & Health
• Reducing Retailer Density in Philadelphia, org
• Reducing Tobacco Retail Density in San Francisco: A Case Study, San Francisco Tobacco-Free Project
• Number of Smokefree and Other Tobacco-Related Laws, American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation
• The War in the Store, CounterTobacco.org

Listen below or on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Download the episode transcript here

Resources:

• Decriminalizing Commercial Tobacco: Addressing Systemic Racism in the Enforcement of Commercial Tobacco Control
• Resources on the Center for Black Health and Equity’s webpage: Racial Equity in Commercial Tobacco Enforcement
• Black Body Health Podcast Episode 15: Equitable Enforcement
• A Discussion on Menthol Bans and Criminalization of Black Communities
• Public Health Law Center’s resources on commercial tobacco control, including those on retail policy and licensure
• Licensing, Zoning, and Retailer Density
• PUP in Smoke: Why Youth Tobacco Possession and Use Penalties are Ineffective and Inequitable
• Youth Purchase, Use, or Possession Laws are Not Effective Tobacco Prevention
• Equitable Enforcement to Achieve Health Equity: An Introductory Guide for Policymakers and Practitioners

Read the transcript for this episode here.

Sources & Additional Resources:

Kong AY, King BA. Boosting the Tobacco Control Vaccine: recognizing the role of the retail environment in addressing tobacco use and disparities.Tobacco Control  Published Online First: 23 September 2020. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055722

King BA, Graffunder C. (2018). The Tobacco Control Vaccine: a population-based framework for preventing tobacco-related disease and death. Tobacco control, 27(2), 123–124. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054276

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Read the transcript for this episode here.

Subscribe to the Counter Tobacco Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Photo by Karl Edwards on Unsplash

This episode spotlights flavor bans. From the West Coast (California) to the Midwest (Edina and Fridley, MN & Chicago, IL), we’ve got you covered on the most recent news surrounding restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products.

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