TOB Magazine

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, anti-tobacco

advocates have focused more of their attention and re-

sources on proposing and lobbying for the adoption of

local retail tobacco restrictions. The result is an ever-in-

creasing number of ordinances that result in law-abiding

retailers being forced to remove legal tobacco products

from store shelves.

This shift in the emphasis to local issues is evident

in the sheer number of local proposed ordinances per

year. In 2011, 248 local tobacco ordinances were in-

troduced and considered by city and county local gov-

ernments. That number has increased exponentially to

more than 700 local tobacco-related ordinances intro-

duced during 2016.

Clearly, the agenda underlying many of these pro-

posed ordinances is one of prohibition. This agenda can

be seen in the kind of restrictions being proposed, such

as flavor bans. It is important to note that these prohibi-

tion-type ordinances are aimed at adult tobacco use, not

necessarily to prevent underage tobacco use.

For a number of years, the anti-tobacco groups have

claimed that their efforts were to protect youth. Howev-

er, that claim is now being used to support their efforts

to ban the right of adults to buy tobacco products. This

is where retailers and their adult customers need to be-

come engaged to oppose these kinds of restrictions.

Local is All About Local:

The importance of local

retailers participating in an effort to oppose a tobacco

ordinance is critical because local elected officials need

to hear from their local businesses. Local retailers have

their livelihoods at stake as well as their employees’ jobs,

and local elected officials have a duty to listen to the

businesses located in their city or council. This is why

retailers need to explain their concerns to their local rep-

resentatives.

NATO Local Project:

In 2012, NATO started the

NATO Local Project, which monitors and helps retailers

respond to local tobacco ordinances. If a retailer learns

of a proposed retail ordinance, they should call NATO

at its toll-free number of 866-869-8888. More than like-

ly, NATO’s monitoring services would have alerted the

association about the ordinance, but that may not always

be the case. NATO Local Project staff will send an alert

to the association’s retail members in that city or county

which provides information on the ordinance, includes

retail talking points, and the phone numbers and e-mail

addresses of local officials. Retailers should then contact

local lawmakers to express their concerns about how the

ordinance will affect their retail business.

Social Sources:

One of the key arguments that NATO

provides in response to a tobacco ordinance is infor-

mation about social sources. A significant majority of

underage youth relies on social sources such as family

members, older friends and even strangers to obtain to-

bacco products. This is the issue that anti-tobacco advo-

cates are fully aware of, but choose to ignore because it

is so much easier to lobby for more restrictive local retail

regulations than it is to change the behavior of adults

so that they do not supply youth with tobacco products.

Even the FDA has now confirmed through a study

sponsored by the agency that social sources are a signif-

icant source of tobacco for youth. The initial findings

of this Population Assessment on Tobacco and Health

study indicate that minors rely on social sources 81 per-

cent of the time to obtain cigarettes, 79 percent of the

time to get cigars or little cigars and almost 77 percent of

the time to gain access to smokeless tobacco.

Customer Involvement:

It is just as important for

retailers to urge their adult customers to call and e-mail

local lawmakers, because their rights will also be affect-

ed, especially if the ordinance proposes a ban on the sale

of certain tobacco products. Finally, retailers need to at-

tend the public hearing held on the ordinance and testify

against the proposed restrictions.

Opposing local ordinances is all about local retailers

contacting local officials and letting them know that they

are responsible business owners, they share the concern

about underage youth having access to tobacco prod-

ucts, but that the ordinance will only serve to negatively

impact law-abiding retailers’ businesses.

Moreover, it is imperative that retailers not wait un-

til an ordinance has been proposed to contact their city

council or county board members. Retailers should con-

tact their local officials, invite them to visit their stores

and, when they do, explain how their retail businesses

works; discuss their dependence on tobacco sales for

keeping their businesses afloat and for providing good

jobs to local residents. Establishing a good relationship

with local lawmakers and making sure that they under-

stand the steps taken to prevent the sale of tobacco to

minors are both key steps to take in order to preserve

their business.

Local Tobacco

Ordinances

What retailers need to know and do.

The organization

has always

been focused on

tobacco harm

reduction and on

the recognition

that smoke-

free nicotine-

containing

products are

inherently far

less dangerous

than smoking.

Thomas Briant is the

executive director and

legal counsel of NATO,

the National Association

of Tobacco Outlets.

NATO NEWS

[

TOM BRIANT ]

[ 6 ]

TOBACCO BUSINESS

[

MARCH

APRIL

17 ]