Legislative Efforts to Protect Children From Tobacco

Abstract

Public health laws intended to prevent children from smoking have been enacted in many states. We surveyed the relevant laws in all states and the District of Columbia. The efficacy of one such law prohibiting the sale of tobacco to individuals under the age of 18 years was assessed with the cooperation of an 11-year-old girl. She was successful in 75 of 100 attempts to purchase cigarettes. On the basis of this experience and a review of existing laws, we have made recommendations for a model law. These include a prohibition of the possession of tobacco by minors, a prohibition of the sale of tobacco to minors, a requirement for a warning sign at the point of sale, a ban on cigarette vending machines, and a reward for individuals reporting violators of vending laws.

APC Modeling of Smoking Prevalence Among US Adolescents and Young Adults

“…1 The first legislative act requesting the labeling of cigarette packaging with health warnings was enacted in 1965 and followed by a ban on cigarette advertisement on radio and television in 1971, 2 progressive increases in tobacco taxes by states since 1965 and doubling of the federal tobacco tax in 1983, 3 the nonsmokers’ rights movement during the 1970s, 4 and the subsequent national and local smoking bans in public and in workplaces, and the restrictions of tobacco sales to minors at the state level since the mid-1980s 5 and at the national level in 1996. 6 …”

Unintended consequences and professional ethics: criminalization of alcohol and tobacco use by youth and young adults

“…However, laws criminalizing possession and use of tobacco by adolescents did ® nd a voice among some tobacco control advocates. 24,25 However, many other voices warned of the pitfalls of this approach, arguing that purchase and possession laws are ineffective, shift responsibility away from tobacco merchants and the tobacco industry, and are philosophically¯awed. 21,26,27 C ompared to the history of minimum drinking age laws, there was greater recognition of the potential harm and debate about the m erits of criminalizing adolescent tobacco use.…”

Licit and illicit drug policies: a typology

“…Similarly, the actual coercion associated with a specific regulatory measure may fall dramatically short of that associated with an economic incentive. A law outlawing the sale of cigarettes to minors, if unenforced and subject to no penalty, is significantly less coercive than the aforementioned marijuana tax (DiFranza et al, 1987).…”