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How to Win at the State Level
Despite these victories, the industry still routinely faces new
local ordinances, warns Briant, who urges retailers to remain
vigilant about representing their interests at the local level.
“Having local retailers participating in this effort to op-
pose local tobacco ordinances is crucial because local of-
ficials need to hear from local businesses,” he says, noting
that NATO can provide retailers with assistance to help
engage with local officials effectively. “Local retailers have
much more influence on the actions of city council, town
or county board than outside industry members. Some
retailers may even know local elected officials personally.”
In contacting local officials, one key argument that
NATO has been able to employ is research debunking the
youth access argument often made by anti-tobacco ad-
vocates. Recent studies show that minors predominantly
obtain tobacco products from “social sources” or fami-
ly members and older friends, rather than retail venues,
notes Briant, who adds that FDA now recognizes this due
to results of a recent PATH study it sponsored. "Of the
key arguments we can now provide with that information
is the advent of social sources and how that impacts the
access of underage youth to tobacco process.
“Initial findings of that study released last year show that
minors rely on social sources 81.2 percent of the time for
cigarettes, 79 percent for cigars and little cigars, and 76.8
percent for smokeless tobacco,” says Briant (see youth ac-
cess chart, above). “This is an issue anti’s are aware of and
choose to ignore because it is easier to lobby for more re-
strictive regulations than to change the behavior of adults
so that they will not buy youths tobacco products.”
Informing local officials about this finding can go a
long way toward combating further restrictions on the
sale of tobacco products, asserts Briant. “What local offi-
cials need to realize and be educated about is that further
restrictions on sale of tobacco products will not reduce
youth access to tobacco because most do not buy [them]
in a retail store in the first place.”
}
!
13.8%
32.0%
6.6%
42.5%
5.0%
10.5%
17.3%
5.8%
56.7%
9.7%
21.0%
34.2%
4.1%
37.3%
#
12.0%
17.3%
4.8%
56.9%
9.0%
23.2%
37.0%
4.9%
31.2%
#
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
CIGARETTES
(N=533)
E-CIGARETTES
(N=342)
CIGARILLOS
(N=257)
HOOKAH
(N=189)
SMOKELESS
(N=154)
Bought myself
Gave someone else
money to buy
Bought from someone/
took from store or
another person
Asked for or
someone offered
#
Estimate suppressed because it is statistically unreliable; it is based on a sample size of
less than 50, or the coefficient of variation of the estimate is larger than 30 percent.
Source of Access to Tobacco for Youth Users
(AMONG 15- TO 17-YEAR-OLD USERS OVER THE PAST 30 DAYS)
"Where do you get
your tobacco?"
[ T O B O N L I N E . C O M ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
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