TOB Magazine

TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

MAY/JUNE 2015

NEWS & TRENDS

MAY/JUNE 2015

A recent study by the Institute of Medi-

cine (IOM) makes the case that raising

the minimum legal age to purchase

tobacco products “will likely prevent

or delay initiation of tobacco use by

adolescents and young adults.” The

study was an outgrowth of the Fam-

ily Smoking Prevention and Tobacco

Control Act, which required the FDA

to convene an expert panel to look into

public health implications of raising

the minimum age to purchase tobacco

products and report back to Congress.

The IOM study focused on deter-

mining the public health impact of

raising the minimum legal age to 21

and to 25. In a recent report on the

study results, the IOM stated that “The

impact of raising the MLA [minimum

legal age] to 21 will likely be sub-

stantially higher than raising it to 19.

However, the added effect of raising

the MLA from 21 to 25 will likely be

considerably less.”

According to the study models,

there would be a 3 percent decrease

in prevalence of tobacco use among

today’s teenagers in adulthood if the

MLA were raised to 19, a 12 percent

decrease if raised to 21, and a 16 per-

cent decrease if raised to 25.

In response to the IOM study an-

nouncement, NATO’s TomBriant noted

that the problem of underage tobacco

use will continue to persist until there is

a credible effort to change the willing-

ness of adults of any age to legally buy

and then provide tobacco products to

underage youth. “While the Institute of

Medicine study states that raising the

legal age to 21 will substantially reduce

the number of 15- to 17-year-olds who

begin to smoke or use tobacco prod-

ucts, doing so does not address the

issue of those minors who rely on fam-

ily members or other people age 21 or

older to obtain cigarettes and tobacco

products,” he pointed out.

A press release by NATO on the

topic stated that if a higher legal age is

enacted, the same outcome will arise

with 18-, 19- and 20-year-old adults

who currently use tobacco products.

That is, these young adults would

likely turn to adults 21 or older to pur-

chase tobacco products for them.

The NATO press release also pointed

out that adults should have the right to

choose for themselves whether they

want to purchase legal products, in-

cluding legal tobacco products. Since

adults aged 18, 19 and 20 can vote and

serve in the military, they should be al-

lowed to exercise their right to choose

what legal products they desire to pur-

chase and use.

AWMAChangesName toConvenienceDistributionAssociation

New moniker better describes what the organization does, says the association.

Study Addresses Whether the Legal Purchase

Age for Tobacco Should Be Raised

NATO’s Tom Briant counters the findings of a study on the impact of raising the

legal purchase age for tobacco products.

Rob Sincavich, president of Wheeling,

West Virginia-based Team Sledd and the

2015 chairman of the American Whole-

sale Marketers Association (AWMA), has

announced that the AWMA Board of Di-

rectors approved changing its name to

the Convenience Distribution Associa-

tion (CDA). The new name more effec-

tively describes what the organization is

all about, says Sincavich.

“It is who we are. It is what we do,” he

explained. “We distribute convenience

products in varying retail formats and

store sizes. We distribute convenience

products institutionally. When we talk to

our government representatives, they

will know who we are and what we do.

It makes sense.”

The board also endorsed a wide-

ranging program of enhancements to

the association that include:

• Increased emphasis on govern-

ment affairs, including the launch of a

sophisticated online State Advocacy

Center;

• Beefed up industry affairs and mem-

ber engagement efforts, supported

by the hiring of two industry veterans:

Steve Shing, formerly with GSC Enter-

prises, as vice president of member en-

gagement, and David Dresser, formerly

of Core-Mark International, as vice presi-

dent of program development;

• Increased collaboration with a wide

range of other industry associations in

an effort to improve the efficacy of pro-

grams and encourage supply chain col-

laboration and efficiency;

• The establishment of a series of

“communities” designed to allow col-

laboration and learning, both at person-

to-person gatherings and through a

new custom-built online portal;

• Establishment of a Manufacturer

Advisory Council designed to get great-

er input from manufacturer partners;

• New emphasis on digital content

delivery to members, allowing the as-

sociation to provide more information

to members, and to make that content