Locking devices on cigarette vending machines: evaluation of a city ordinance.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES. Policymakers, researchers, and citizens are beginning to recognize the need to limit minors' access to tobacco by restricting the sale of cigarettes through vending machines. One policy alternative that has been proposed by the tobacco industry is a requirement that vending machines be fitted with electronic locking devices. This study evaluates such a policy as enacted in St. Paul, Minn. METHODS. A random sample of vending machine locations was selected for cigarette purchase attempts conducted before implementation and at 3 and 12 months postimplementation. RESULTS. The rate of noncompliance by merchants was 34% after 3 months and 30% after 1 year. The effect of the law was to reduce the ability of a minor to purchase cigarettes from locations originally selling cigarettes through vending machines from 86% at baseline to 36% at 3 months. The purchase rate at these locations rose to 48% at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS. Our results suggest that cigarette vending machine locking devices may not be as effective as vending machine bans and require additional enforcement to ensure compliance with the law.

Strategies for Reducing Youth Access to Tobacco: a framework for understanding empirical findings on youth access policies

“…Altman et al (1989) and Forster et al (1992a) did not ®nd statistically signi®cant changes in vending machine access by minors in communities with only community education policies. By contrast, Jason et al (1991) found that minors were unable to purchase from vending machines 11 months after an ordinance banning vending machines was passed, although their conclusions were limited by a small sample size.…”

“…Another possibility is to af®x vending machines with locking devices, which render the machine inoperable until a clerk activates the power (supposedly after asking for proof of age). Forster et al (1992a) studied a local ordinance requiring the use of locking devices. Minors' abilit y to purchase cigarettes from vending machines decreased from a baseline of 86% to 30% at 3 months (a 65% reduction), but rose to 48% (a 45% reduction from the baseline) at 1 year follow-up.…”

The defeat of Philip Morris' 'California Uniform Tobacco Control Act'.

“…For example, the initiative outlawed cigarette vending machines unless they were fitted with locking devices; these locking devices do not limit youth access to tobacco. 79 public information already printed in the official voter handbook (interview with G. Yates, Califomia Wellness Foundation, January 31,1995). The strategy of publicizing major donors to campaigns for and against the measure, so that voters could assess for themselves the motives of these donors, is also applicable to other public health issues, including campaign finance reform,15,8182 insurance reform, gun control, alcohol, and environmental issues.…”

Randomized Trial of Reduced-Nicotine Standards for Cigarettes

“…¶ ¶ On any public street, place, or resort. businesses, do not prohibit minors' entry and have been shown to be readily accessible to underaged buy ers (Forster et al 1992b;Wakefield et al 1992a;Cismoski and Sheridan 1993). Because less-restrictive measures must be consistently implemented to be ef fective, and because such implementation is difficult, the USDHHS (1994) and the IOM (Lynch and Bonnie 1994) recommend a total ban on cigarette vending machines.…”