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Governor Whitmer cuts deal with JUUL, signs dangerous tobacco legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Biehl, Resch Strategies

SB 720 lowers taxes on some tobacco products, making them more accessible and affordable to youth

Lansing, Mich. – Instead of protecting Michigan youth, Governor Gretchen Whitmer chose to cut a deal with JUUL and signed dangerous legislation that will fuel a  growing youth tobacco epidemic.

More than 80 public health and child advocacy organizations that make up the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Alliance strongly opposed Senate Bill 720, but Gov. Whitmer still prioritized the needs of the tobacco industry over the health of Michigan’s youth. In committee hearings as SB 720 was discussed, JUUL was the only organization supporting the legislation while the more than 80 organizations across the state that make up the Alliance opposed the bill. SB 720 lowers the tax rate for modified-risk tobacco products, weakening Michigan’s tobaccocontrol policies and makes them more accessible and affordable to our youth.

“Nothing should be put ahead of the health of Michiganders but that happened today with the signing of Senate Bill 720,” said Jodi Radke of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. “Governor Whitmer and Michigan lawmakers should be ashamed that they have now made it easier for our youth to get their hands on tobacco products.”

SB 720, as well as four other bills that raise the age of sale to 21 but lack enforcement mechanisms to actually ensure tobacco products aren’t sold to youth, were signed today by Governor Whitmer.

“It’s unacceptable that Michigan legislators sided with the tobacco industry over the dozens of public health organizations working to keep kids safe,” said Shannon Quinby of Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation. “The signing of this package today takes Michigan down a dangerous path that ignores the need to protect
youth from tobacco.”

The Alliance has expressed opposition to the entire package throughout the legislative process and has been calling for Governor Whitmer to veto Senate Bill 720, which has the most dangerous consequences.

“We are still facing a youth tobacco epidemic and should be working to strengthen our tobacco control policies to protect our youth, not weakening them,” said Paul Steiner, executive director of Tobacco Free Michigan. “All tobacco products carry risks, even ones labeled “modified-risk” and it’s alarming that our elected leaders are ignoring our concerns and the need to protect our youth.”

The Alliance plans to continue fighting to strengthen Michigan’s tobacco-control policies that will better protect Michigan youth, including the creation of tobacco retail licensing that would hold retailers accountable for selling tobacco products to underage customers.

Members of the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance include:

• ACCESS Community Health and Research Center
• All Well Being Services- SUD Prevention
• Allegiance Health
• Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities
• American Cancer Society – Cancer Action Network
• American Heart Association
• American Indian Veterans of Michigan
• American Lung Association
• Arbor Circle
• Ascension Michigan
• Barry County Tobacco Reduction Coalition
• Barry-Eaton District Health Department
• Beaumont Teen Health Center
• BreatheWell Newaygo County
• Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• CARE of Southeastern Michigan
• Chaldean Community Foundation
• Cherry Health
• Child Advocacy-Gratiot County Substance Abuse Coalition
• Chippewa County Health Department
• City of Flint- Public Health Department
• Community Mental Health Association of Michigan
• Detroit Wayne Oakland Tobacco-Free Coalition
• District 10 Health Department
• Genesee County Health Department
• Genesee Health Plan
• Genesee County ISD
• Genesee County Medical Society
• Genesee County Prevention Coalition
• Grand Rapids Red Project
• Health Department of Northwest Michigan
• Healthy Youth Coalition of Marinette & Menominee Counties
• Henry Ford Health System
• Hurley Medical Center
• Ingham County Health Department
• Ingham County Medical Society
• Kent County Health Connect
• Lakeshore Regional Entity
• Legacy Center for Community Success
• Lifeways
• Making It Count Community Development Corporation
• Mercy Health
• McLaren Health Care
• Michigan’s Children
• Michigan Academy of Family Physicians
• Michigan Association of Local Public Health
• Michigan Black Caucus Foundation
• Michigan Catholic Conference
• Michigan Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics
• Michigan Chapter of American College of Cardiology
• Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health
• Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners
• Michigan Health and Hospital Association
• Michigan League for Public Policy/Kids’ Count
• Michigan Nurses Association
• Michigan Oral Health Coalition
• Michigan Osteopathic Association
• Michigan Public Health Association
• Michigan Society of Addiction Medicine
• Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology
• Michigan State Medical Society
• Michigan State University – College of Human Medicine
• Michigan State University Extension
• Michigan Thoracic Society
• Mid-Michigan District Health Department
• Newaygo County Great Start Collaborative
• Parents Against Vaping
• Prevention Network Michigan
• Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation
• Sacred Heart Center
• Saint Joseph Mercy Health System
• School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan
• South Eastern Michigan Indians
• Spectrum Health
• St. Clair County Health Department
• Ten16 Recovery Network
• Tobacco Free Michigan
• Tobacco Free Network
• Trinity Health
• Urban League of West Michigan
• Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans
• Washtenaw County Health Department
• Washtenaw County Medical Society

For more information on the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance, visit keepmikidstobaccofree.com.

Evaluation of Restrictions on Tobacco Sales to Youth Younger Than 21 Years in Cleveland, Ohio, Area

Erika Trapl, PhD1Stephanie Pike Moore, PhD, MPH1Catherine Osborn, MA1et al
JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(7):e2222987. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.22987

Key Points

Question  Is the legislation raising the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco to 21 years in Cleveland, Ohio, associated with equitable outcomes among the adolescent population?

Findings  In this survey study including 12 616 high school students from Cleveland and its first-ring suburbs, prevalence of the most common form of current tobacco use among youth, cigars, declined in the postlegislation period, and there was a substantial reduction in the disparities among racial and ethnic populations across all tobacco product use types.

Meaning  These findings suggest that reduction in youth tobacco product use overall and tobacco use disparities may be associated with diminishing tobacco-related health disparities.

Abstract

Importance  Tobacco 21 (T21) policies raise the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 years to curb youth access to tobacco products. While some studies have found that T21 is associated with reducing prevalence of youth tobacco use, little is known about the impact it may have on youth of different racial and ethnic identities.

Objective  To evaluate the association of T21 policy with the prevalence of high school youth tobacco use across sex, race, and ethnicity.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This survey study used representative survey data collected from the local biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey from 2013 to 2017 comparing Cleveland, Ohio (which has a T21 policy), to proximal jurisdictions in the first-ring suburbs in Cuyahoga County (which do not have T21 policies). Within-Cleveland demographic information was also collected for 2013 to 2019. Overall high school youth tobacco use rates were compared between Cleveland and the first-ring suburbs and then examined within Cleveland among Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White high school students. Percentage data were adjusted to more closely align with local population demographics. Data were analyzed from January to June 2022.

Exposures  T21 was implemented in Cleveland in 2016 and not adopted in proximal jurisdictions or at the state and federal level until at least 1 year later.

Main Outcomes and Measures  The main outcomes were prevalence of past 30-day cigarette, cigar product, or e-cigarette use, measured using geographically representative high school youth survey data from 2013 to 2015 (prelegislation) and 2017 to 2019 (postlegislation) and compared using a difference-in-differences analysis.

Results  The unweighted sample included 12 616 high school students (27.0% [95% CI, 26.9%-28.0%] in 10th grade; 50.9% [95% CI, 50.3%-51.6%] females) participating in 1 or more Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 2013 to 2019, including 7064 students in Cleveland and 5552 students in the first-ring suburbs. Compared with the first-ring suburbs, Cleveland had a greater proportion of younger students (1623 [28.5%] ninth grade students vs 2179 [34.0%] ninth grade students) and Hispanic students (436 students [1.1%] vs 1433 students [12.6%]) and non-Hispanic Black students (2000 students [53.1%] vs 3971 students [75.1%]). Cigars were the most commonly used tobacco product in Cleveland, with use reported by 6201 students (19.8%) in 2013, 5877 students (21.3%) in 2015, and 5784 students (16.8%) in 2019. Compared with the first-ring suburbs, there was a greater decline in prevalence of use of cigars in Cleveland (β = 0.18 [SE, 0.05]; P < .001). The disparity across race, ethnicity, and sex decreased for all current tobacco product use. For example, the maximum difference between demographic subpopulations in current cigarette use was 11.6 (95% CI, 9.5-13.7) percentage points in 2013 between White females (16.1% [95% CI, 11.3%-20.8%]) and Black males (4.5% [95% CI, 3.5%-5.4%]). This maximum difference in current cigarette use decreased significantly to 5.1 (95% CI, 3.5-6.7) percentage points in 2019 between White females (6.9% [95% CI, 3.4%-10.3%]) and Black females (1.8% [95% CI, 0.7%-2.8%]).

Conclusions and Relevance  This survey study found that there was a decline in youth-reported tobacco use across every tobacco product category from 2013 to 2019. This decline changed the trajectory of use among several demographic groups and brought the youth populations with the highest tobacco product use to similar rates of others.

Introduction

The decline in tobacco use in the US has been a notable public health achievement,1 yet the prevalence of tobacco use among youth remains high, at 31.2% among high school students and 12.5% among middle school students.2 There are substantial racial, ethnic, and sex disparities in how and what types of tobacco products are used by different adolescent populations,35 which are likely compounded by disparities in tobacco retail density,68 age restrictive sales adherence,9 and targeted marketing by the tobacco industry.1012 Population-level interventions and policies are recommended to alter population and societal norms13,14; however, care must be taken in implementing these strategies so as to not exacerbate existing inequities.15

Efforts to increase the minimum legal purchasing age for tobacco products from 18 to 21 years, often referred to as Tobacco 21 (T21), have gained national traction, with T21 being adopted into federal law in 2019.16 T21 is intended to reduce adolescent initiation of tobacco product use by directly reducing access to tobacco products and by reducing access for near-age peers who may supply tobacco products to youths younger than 18 years17 and has demonstrated beneficial associations for reducing youth tobacco use overall.1820

To date, few studies have examined how T21 has been implemented across communities and subsequently impacted adolescents across race, ethnicity, and sex. One of the first jurisdictions to implement T21 found cigarette use declined among males and females as well as White youth and youth who were members of racial or ethnic minority groups, such as Black and Hispanic youth, but did not explore trends for other tobacco products nor examine for potential disparities in implementation.21 In California, T21 had mixed associations with changes in prevalence of cigarette, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarette use among adolescents with different racial and ethnic backgrounds.22

The city of Cleveland, Ohio, implemented its T21 policy in April 2016.23 Cleveland has a high prevalence of adult tobacco use,24,25 high rates of poverty, and is a minority-majority jurisdiction (ie, more than half of the population identify with ethnic or racial minority groups),26 that has consistently been identified as one of the most segregated cities in the US.27 These factors allow us to examine policy equitability more rigorously. Cleveland’s legislation increased the minimum legal tobacco purchasing age to 21. The purpose of this study was to both evaluate the association of Cleveland’s T21 policy with the prevalence of cigarette, cigar product, and e-cigarette use across different high school youth populations and the association of the legislation with the disparities among different sex, racial, and ethnic demographic groups. Compared with a proximal jurisdiction with no T21 policy, a significantly greater decline in high school youth tobacco product use for each product was expected. Within Cleveland, implementation of T21 was expected to contribute to reduced disparities across all demographic groups.

Methods

For this survey study, data collection was approved by the institutional review board at Case Western Reserve University. Consent forms were sent to homes of students in participating schools. Parents or guardians who approved for their student to participate took no action, while parents or guardians who did not want their student to participate informed their school. The day of the survey, students were provided assent information. Student participation was voluntary and anonymous. Student nonparticipation was due to absence on the day of survey administration, parental refusal, or student refusal. This study is reported following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline.

Population

High school–aged youth in Cleveland, Ohio, were the population of interest in this study. Cleveland is nested within Cuyahoga County, Ohio. High school–aged youth from the first-ring suburbs of Cuyahoga County28 were chosen as proximal comparator to examine the effectiveness of the policy. The first-ring suburbs are comprised of 19 distinct municipalities that directly surround the city of Cleveland. One municipality within the first-ring suburbs implemented T21 legislation in mid-2017; no other jurisdiction was impacted by state or federal T21 policies until 2019.

Data Source

Representative survey data collected among high school–aged youth were collected from the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Youth Risk Behavior Survey (CC-YRBS). These cross-sectional data were used to evaluate tobacco use trend in the prelegislative (ie, 2013 and 2015) and postlegislative (ie, 2017 and 2019) periods. Methods for collecting CC-YRBS survey data are described elsewhere.2932 Participation in the CC-YRBS was anonymous and voluntary.

Individual responses were weighted for student nonresponse and by grade, sex, race and ethnicity, and geographic region (categorized as Cleveland East, Cleveland West, First Ring East, First Ring West, Outer Ring East, Outer Ring West). For this study, responses for Cleveland East and Cleveland West were combined to represent Cleveland and First Ring East and First Ring West were combined to represent the first-ring suburbs (FRS). As a result, Cleveland’s responses are mutually exclusive from the FRS.

In Cleveland, response rates were 68.1% in 2015, 66.5% in 2015, 69.3% in 2017, and 76.0% in 2019. Response rates for the FRS were 67.0% in 2013, 56.3% in 2015, and 52.1% in 2017; 2019 prevalence estimates were not included for a regional comparison owing to the adoption of T21 in 2019 at the state and county level.

The response rates for FRS in 2015 and 2017 were below 60%, which was the response rate recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, in 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that jurisdictions with 50% to 60% response rates could be weighted if nonresponse bias analyses indicated no significant bias.33 For the FRS, the weighted sample percentages by grade, sex, and race and ethnicity were not significantly different from the population, indicating no significant bias.

Demographic Characteristics

Demographic comparisons were made between Cleveland and FRS. Demographics from the weighted 2013 geographically representative sample were examined by self-identified grade (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grade), race and ethnicity (Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black [hereafter, Black], or non-Hispanic White [hereafter, White]), and sex (male or female). Within Cleveland, prevalence in adolescent tobacco product use was compared across race, ethnicity, and sex to create 6 distinct groups of students who self-identified as Black males, Black females, Hispanic males, Hispanic females, White males, and White females.

Youth Tobacco Use

Prevalence of tobacco product use among high school youth was assessed using self-reported past 30-day use of cigarettes, cigar products, and e-cigarettes. Cigarette use was measured using the question, “During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke cigarettes?”34 Cigar product use was determined using the question, “During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke cigars, cigarillos, little cigars, or flavored cigars such as Black & Milds, Swisher Sweets, or Phillies?”35 e-Cigarette use was determined using the question, “During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke an electronic vapor product?”34 Current use was defined as use of the tobacco product on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. Prevalence of product-specific use was calculated overall for 2013 to 2019, with the exception of e-cigarette use, which was not captured in 2013 survey.

Statistical Analysis

We used χ2 tests to examine differences in demographic groups between Cleveland and FRS. High school youth tobacco use across both samples was compared prelegislation (2013-2015) and postlegislation (2017) using a difference-in-differences (DID) analysis. Estimates for 2019 were excluded owing to the widespread adoption of T21 at the local, state, and federal level. The sample sizes used to compare jurisdictions in Cleveland were 7064 in 2013, 6197 in 2015, and 6397 in 2017, and in FRS, they were 5552 in 2013, 2797 in 2015, and 4233 in 2017. DID models were adjusted for grade level and racial composition based on demographic differences and prior research illuminating differential associations in youth in younger grades.20,36

DID was also used to compare each individual demographic group with the demographic group with the highest prevalence of use for each individual product at baseline being considered the reference group. More than 99% of the Cleveland sample self-identified as Black, Hispanic, or White; students identifying in other racial groups (eg, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander) were excluded from this analysis. As a result, the biennial sample size used to examine within-Cleveland demographic differences was 6022 in 2013, 5402 in 2015, 5638 in 2017, and 5231 in 2019. DID models were similarly adjusted for grade level.

A measurement of disparity was also included but not statistically tested. Our measure of disparity assessed the absolute difference between the demographic group with the highest prevalence estimate and the demographic group with the lowest prevalence estimate for each of the 3 tobacco product use types assessed.

Analyses were calculated using SAS statistical software version 9.4 (SAS Institute). P values were 2-sided, and statistical significance was set at P = .05. Data were analyzed from January to June 2022.

Results

Demographics

The unweighted sample included 12 616 high school students (27.0% [95% CI, 26.9%-28.0%] in 10th grade; 50.9% [95% CI, 50.3%-51.6%] females) participating in 1 or more Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 2013 to 2019, including 7064 students in Cleveland and 5552 students in the FRS. The weighted sample of Cleveland and the FRS differed by grade and race and ethnicity but not by sex. Cleveland youth were younger, with a greater proportion of 9th graders (2179 students [34.0%]) compared with high school youth in FRS (1623 students [28.5%]) (Table 1). Additionally, Cleveland had a higher proportion of Black (3971 students [75.1%]) and Hispanic (1433 students [12.6%]) youth compared with FRS, which had 2000 Black students (53.1%) and 436 Hispanic students (1.1%). These demographic differences were consistent across data collection years.

Youth Tobacco Product Use

Between 2013 and 2015 Cleveland adolescent cigarette use increased from 7.6% (95% CI, 6.7%-8.4%) to 9.1% (95% CI, 8.1%-10.1%) and cigar product use increased from 19.8% (95% CI, 18.5%-21.1%) to 21.3% (95% CI, 20.0%-22.5%), but in the postlegislation period, cigarette use declined to 4.5% (95% CI, 3.9%-5.1%) and cigar product use declined to 16.8% (95% CI, 15.6%-17.9%) (Table 2). Similarly, the prevalence of cigarette use in FRS was increasing in the prelegislation period but declined by more than half in the postlegislation period. Prevalence of cigar product use in FRS was continuously declining. The trends in Cleveland and FRS were different between 2013 and 2017 for cigar products and e-cigarettes, with more notable declines within Cleveland with regard to cigar product use (β = 0.18 [SE, 0.05]; P < .001) and more notable declines e-cigarette use within FRS even after controlling for grade and race and ethnicity (β = −0.23 [SE, 0.06]; P < .001) (Table 3).

Within Cleveland, the prevalence in cigarette use was different for Black male and Black female high school youth compared with all others (Table 4). Trends remained flat, particularly for Black males in the prelegislation period, at 4.5% (95% CI, 3.5%-5.4%) in 2013 and 4.4% (95% CI, 3.2%-5.5%) in 2015. In the same period, prevalence in cigarette use increased particularly for White males, for whom the prevalence increased from 13.7% (95% CI, 9.2%-18.1%) in 2013 to 24.7% (95% CI, 18.2%-31.2%) in 2015. Notably, in the postlegislation period, the prevalence in cigarette use among Black males increased from 2.4% (95% CI, 1.6%-3.1%) in 2017 to 3.6% (95% CI, 2.1%-5.1%), which is the only time product use increased across a demographic group in the postlegislation period. In 2013, the largest disparity was observed between White females (16.1% [95% CI, 11.3%-20.8%]) and Black males (4.5% [95% CI, 3.5%-5.4%]), with a difference of 11.6 (95% CI, 9.5-13.7) percentage points (eFigure 1 in the Supplement). By 2019, the disparity declined by more than half, with the greatest difference being between White females (6.9% [95% CI, 3.4%-10.3%]) and Black females (1.8% [95% CI, 0.7%-2.8%]), with a difference of just 5.1 (95% CI, 3.5-6.7) percentage points.

Trends in cigar product use were different among Black and White populations for both males and females compared with all other demographic groups. The greatest prevalence in the prelegislation period was observed among Black males, at 21.4% (95% CI, 19.4%-23.4%), and females, at 23.2% (95% CI, 20.7%-25.7%) in 2013, yet trends were largely flat, particularly for Black males, between 2013 and 2015. All other demographic groups had increases in prevalence, particularly among White males, with an increase from 7.8% (95% CI, 4.2%-11.4%) in 2013 to 24.7% (95% CI, 18.2%-31.2%) in 2015. The largest disparity in 2013 was observed between Black females and White males, with a difference of 15.4 (95% CI, 11.9-18.9) percentage points. The disparity here declined to 4.2 (95% CI, 0.7-7.7) percentage points in 2019, with the greatest prevalence observed among Hispanic males and White males (eFigure 2 in the Supplement).

Rates in e-cigarette use declined similarly across all groups in the prelegislation and postlegislation periods. In 2015, the greatest disparity was observed among White males, for whom prevalence was 26.7% (95% CI, 20.6%-32.9%), and Black males, who had the lowest prevalence, at 10.3% (95% CI, 8.7%-11.9%)—a disparity of 16.4 (95% CI, 13.3-19.5) percentage points. In 2019, the greatest disparity was between White females, at 14.4% (95% CI, 9.4%-19.4%) and Black females, at 4.9% (95% CI, 3.4%-6.3%), or a decrease of 9.5 (95% CI, 7.0-12.0) percentage points (eFigure 3 in the Supplement).

Discussion

This survey study is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine disparities in adolescent tobacco use within the context of T21 implementation. Cleveland’s T21 policy was associated with reducing use of the most prevalent tobacco product, cigars and cigar-related products, among high school youth in the years following implementation compared with a proximal jurisdiction, as well as reducing disparities in tobacco use across different sex, racial, and ethnic groups.

Students in Cleveland and FRS differed by grade and race and ethnicity, with Cleveland having a higher proportion of students in the 9th grade and a higher proportion of students who were Black or Hispanic. Differences in racial and ethnic makeup likely contributed to differences in the most common products used at baseline, with cigar product use being most prominent in Cleveland and e-cigarette product use most common in FRS. Some studies have found that T21 policies are associated with significantly greater changes among students in younger grades,20 with a negligible or opposite outcomes36 among older students, which may have contributed to greater declines in Cleveland’s population, yet in our study the difference remained when grade level was controlled for.

There were no observed differences by jurisdiction with respect to the prevalence of cigarette use. While cigarette use has been declining in Cuyahoga County overall since 2011,37 this may, in part, be due to youth shifting their use from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, which reflects a broader shift in behavioral norms that has been noted across the US.38 While use of e-cigarettes was not captured until 2015, the prevalence of e-cigarette use was greater in both communities compared with cigarette product use. The gap in prevalence of use between cigarettes and e-cigarettes increased from 1.8-fold to 2.1-fold as high in FRS and from 1.7-fold to 2.6-fold as high in Cleveland from 2015 to 2017, further demonstrating a normative shift in tobacco product preferences. Another indicator that highlights this shift are the trends observed immediately following Ohio’s tax increases for cigarettes in July 2015, which would have impacted cigarette prices in both communities.39 This policy did not have an immediate association with youth tobacco use trends in either geography, where trends remained relatively stable in FRS and increased slightly in Cleveland before both declining in 2017.

The trajectory for cigarette and little cigar and cigarillo product usage across sex, race, and ethnicity in Cleveland high school–aged youth shifted in the post-T21 implementation period. From 2013 to 2015, the prevalence of current tobacco product use was increasing for all adolescent groups and all products except Black males, for whom use was declining. Immediately after policy implementation in 2017, prevalence dropped across the board for all adolescent populations and continued in 2019 except among Black males who smoked cigarettes, for whom the prevalence increased. A 2016 study by Schneider et al21 found that the greatest decline in adolescent tobacco use was immediately after policy implementation and that a longer time horizon may be needed to evaluate whether the policy is associated with shifting the population norm vs immediate changes in trends.

Ongoing surveillance of tobacco retailers in Cleveland conducted by the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at Case Western Reserve University40 suggests that disparities exist in display T21 signage regarding the minimum legal purchasing age, with Black neighborhoods having lower rates of posted signs compared with White or Hispanic neighborhoods. Posting policy-relevant signs helps to foster population norms by promoting awareness by customers, store owners, managers, and employees. A 2021 study by Roberts et al41 found that displaying T21 signs was strongly associated with ID checks among retailers.41 In Cleveland, this would suggest that the areas with low signage adherence may also be areas with low sales adherence, which may alter the long-term trajectories of youth tobacco use if these disparities persist.

A potential weakness to Cleveland’s T21 policy was the lack of an enforcement plan or strategy for retail violations. Tobacco retail adherence to age-specific sales and ID checking requirements has been mixed. In New York, ID checking adherence declined after T21 implementation,42 while California saw low retailer violation rates.43 These differences are likely related to the unequal enforcement of T21.44,45 A review of local and state T21 policies indicates that very few jurisdictions included enforcement language in their policy.46 Having an explicit enforcement component within T21 or subsequent tobacco legislation, such as timelines for adherence inspections or penalty structures for retailer violation, is key to implementation and success.47 However, owing to the limitations for state and federal entities to conduct adherence checks, the enforcement responsibility is largely placed on local agencies that lack the necessary resources, which has complicated enforcement.48 Furthermore, areas, like Cleveland, with a high prevalence of adult tobacco use likely need enhanced enforcement, given the association between parent and child smoking.49 Tobacco retail licensure programs, wherein tobacco retailers pay a fee that is used to fund adherence checks, have emerged as an opportunity for age-specific policy enforcement and have demonstrated effectiveness.5052

Limitations

This study has some limitations. The proximal jurisdictions, the state of Ohio, and the US adopted T21 policies in late 2019, with the exception of 1 city in FRS that implemented T21 in mid-2017. Given that adolescent tobacco use is affected by other factors, such as surrounding communities and use of older peers to purchase the tobacco for them,53 adolescents who live closer to Cleveland’s boundaries may still have had access to these peers within the study period prior to more widespread adoption of T21 policies. Broader T21 policy adoption may have also eliminated this access in 2019, further contributing to the observed decline. In addition to the adoption of T21 policies, Ohio imposed an excise tax on vapor products in 2019, which may have contributed to trends observed related to e-cigarettes.

This analysis included high school students some of whom met the minimum age requirements for purchasing tobacco, 18 years, prior to implementation of T21 legislation. This may have contributed to higher use rates prior to legislation. Notably, Cleveland’s T21 policy limits only the sale of tobacco products to those younger than 21 years and does not criminalize tobacco use.

Conclusions

In this survey study, there was a substantial reduction in tobacco product use among high school youth and a decrease in the magnitude of disparity in tobacco product use across racial, ethnic, and sex demographic groups, demonstrating the potential associated with the T21 policy to achieve equity. Reduction of tobacco product use among high school students and the related tobacco use disparities may subsequently drive down adult tobacco product use and diminish tobacco-related health disparities.

Article Information

Accepted for Publication: June 4, 2022.

Published: July 12, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.22987

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2022 Trapl E et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Erika Trapl, PhD, Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods, Case Western Reserve University, 11000 Cedar Rd, Cleveland, OH 44106 (Erika.trapl@case.edu).

Author Contributions: Drs Trapl and Pike Moore had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Trapl, Pike Moore, Gupta, Frank.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: Trapl, Pike Moore, Gupta, Kinsella.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Trapl, Pike Moore, Osborn, Gupta, Love, Kinzy, Frank.

Statistical analysis: Trapl, Pike Moore, Gupta, Love, Kinzy, Kinsella.

Obtained funding: Trapl.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Pike Moore, Osborn, Frank.

Supervision: Trapl, Frank.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Funding/Support: This work was supported by the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods and the Department of Population and Qualitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. Design and conduct of the study as well as collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data for the CC-YRBS was supported in whole or in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant No. 1-U43-DP-001930, 1-U48-DP-005030, U87PS004165-02, and U87PS2018-00434), the Ohio Department of Public Health (grant No. B04MC26688), and Drug-Free Community Coalitions, including Brecksville-Broadview Heights Community Awareness and Prevention Association, East Cleveland Bridges of HOPE Coalition, Bellefaire Jewish Community Bureau Social Advocates for Youth Coalition, and the Shaker Prevention Coalition, the Office of Population Affairs (grant No. TP1AH000093-01-00), Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio, The Cleveland Foundation, The Sisters of Charity Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, Mount Sinai Foundation, and St Luke’s Foundation.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Disclaimer: The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of Case Western Reserve University, the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods, or these funders. The authors declare that all information and materials presented in this manuscript are original and not published elsewhere.

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Opinion | Thanks to the FDA, Biden’s cancer moonshot could succeed

A pile of used cigarette butts. (Phil Noble/Reuters)

Contributing columnist

President Biden’s cancer “moonshot” received a big boost from the Food and Drug Administration, thanks to its aggressive actions aimed at curtailing smoking. Three recent proposals — reducing nicotine in cigarettesordering e-cigarette maker Juul to take its products off the market and banning menthol-flavored cigarettes — have the potential to save many lives.

Every year, nearly 500,000 Americans die from smoking-related diseases — more than the annual number of people dying of covid-19. Smoking is the leading cause of cancer deaths, with more than 160,000 people perishing every year from cancers directly attributed to tobacco.

FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf explained at a conference last week that the agency’s proposal to reduce nicotine content in cigarettes is based on nicotine’s extremely high addictive potential. “I think it’s every bit as strong as the opioid addiction,” he said.

Companies know this; they deliberately increased nicotine levels in tobacco products so that smokers crave more cigarettes to fuel their addiction. The FDA contends that the reverse is also true: If cigarettes have such low levels of nicotine that they no longer produce the intended “high,” smokers would either quit or turn to other products that don’t have the cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarettes.

This theory is backed by evidence. A randomized, double-blind trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people assigned to receive reduced-nicotine cigarettes smoked less than those who had standard-nicotine cigarettes. After six weeks, the first group reported lower nicotine-dependence symptoms and minimal withdrawal discomfort. Another study in the same journal projected that lowering the nicotine content to sub-addictive levels could prevent about 8 million deaths in the next 80 years.

Could this effort backfire? Might smokers just smoke more cigarettes to achieve the same effect? Otis Brawley, an oncologist and former chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society, told me in an interview that this is not likely. “The research shows that the more nicotine is in tobacco, the more people smoke,” he said.

Of course, tobacco companies do not like this proposal and inevitably frame the choice of smoking as a matter of free will. Califf offers a particularly compelling rebuttal: Addiction is a disease that alters the chemistry of the brain, so it is not about individual choice. “The evidence is most people want to stop smoking, but they just can’t,” he said.

Equally important to helping smokers quit is preventing nonsmokers from getting hooked in the first place. Youth e-cigarette use has become an epidemic, with as many as 1 in 4 high school students reporting that they vape. Juul, which controls about a third of the e-cigarette market, has come under fire for targeting children, including through ads on the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Its products have an extraordinarily high level of nicotine: A single Juul pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes.

Such amounts of nicotine can harm adolescent brain development. In addition, nearly 90 percent of adult smokers began smoking before age 18. The worry is that Juul’s products are not being used primarily to wean adults off cigarettes, but rather to hook teens with nicotine and turn them into adult smokers. The FDA’s decision to ban most Juul offerings came after the company failed to show that the benefits of its products outweigh the harms.

The FDA has also proposed that menthol cigarettes be removed from the marketplace. This, too, could have a profound impact. Researchers estimate that menthol cigarettes are responsible for 10 million more people who smoke and almost 10,000 deaths every year. In 2017, Canada banned menthols, and a subsequent study found that more than 20 percent of menthol smokers quit rather than switch to other tobacco products.

It’s notable that these FDA proposals are resoundingly applauded by the American Heart Association, American Lung Association and numerous other public health groups. Brawley makes the point that these regulatory efforts will reduce cancer mortality and close disparities. “By far, the biggest driver of disparity in cancer deaths is caused by smoking,” he told me. “Even disparities by race are heavily driven by disparities in tobacco use.”

Indeed, these efforts could be the biggest factor in achieving Biden’s moonshot goal of reducing cancer deaths by half in 25 years. As Califf said, “If you want to reduce cancer mortality, this will do far more — if we succeed — than any specific chemotherapy that you can name.”

The road ahead is not easy. A federal judge has ordered a temporary stay in Juul’s favor, and other proposals will almost certainly be held up by lawsuits. But the FDA should be commended for taking bold action that can improve health for generations to come.

Former Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman has personal reason to seek menthol cigarette ban

Former Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman remembers when menthol cigarettes left him in the hospital.

It was early 2001 — Coleman had been elected to his first term just over a year prior — when his security team shuffled him into the side door of OhioHealth Grant Medical Center. Coleman was sick and wanted to avoid attention from the media.

Coleman had a severe throat infection, he said, from his constant menthol cigarette smoking. He could barely breathe.

Coleman said he remembered hearing the doctors and nurses discussing giving him a tracheotomy, a procedure in which a breathing tube is inserted through the neck, or putting him on a ventilator. He said he thought he was going to die.

“And so I begged them: ‘Don’t give me a tracheotomy — I’m just getting started,'” Coleman said. “I’m just getting started, I got so much to do in life, I’m a new mayor.”

Coleman, who went on to be Columbus’ longest-serving mayor, was lying in the hospital bed gasping for air when he made a promise with God that he would quit smoking if he made it through the night.

“From that moment on, I never smoked another cigarette,” Coleman said. “Didn’t want to be around it.”

A legacy of targeting

Today, Coleman sees himself as a victim of a tobacco industry that has historically and heavily targeted the Black community with advertisements for menthol-flavored tobacco.

In 1950, less than 10% of Black smokers used menthol cigarettes, according to Stopping Menthol, Saving Lives. Today, that number is at 85%.

Menthol is a common cigarette flavor additive with a minty taste and aroma that reduces the irritation and harshness of smoking, according to the Food and Drug Administration. This increases appeal and makes menthol cigarettes easier to use, and possibly enhances nicotine’s addictive effects.

Coleman first started smoking cigarettes at 17. He said he remembered when he was attending University of Cincinnati, being deluged by advertisements he feels were designed to get him hooked on menthol cigarettes.

“I remember cigarettes, cigarettes being passed around in little small little packages, maybe three or four cigarettes in a package. Just passed around free,” Coleman said.

Victor Davis, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Columbus, recalled how growing up in North Carolina he was exposed to menthol cigarette advertisements and free events like concerts and giveaways.

From 1975 to the early 1980s, Brown & Williamson (the original manufacturers of Kool brand menthol cigarettes) would hold free jazz concerts and promotional campaigns to entice African-Americans toward Kool cigarettes, according to “Finding the Kool Mixx.”

“I can’t think of more people (from my childhood) that didn’t smoke,” Davis said. “Most people in my family smoked.”

Coleman said menthol cigarette smoking culture was pervasive when he was a young adult.

“And it was you know, people you know dances and parties they had a cigarette and had Kool, K-O-O-L,” Coleman said. “I mean, who doesn’t want to be cool? They even called the cigarette cool.”

Recognizing a problem

Coleman had been Columbus City Council president for three years when he won his first mayoral election in 1999. He said during that time, he was smoking a pack or more of menthol cigarettes a day. Although many people generally knew he smoked, he was hiding his habit while campainging.

He said it wasn’t until he was hospitalized that he realized he felt victimized by the companies that marketed menthol cigarettes to the Black community.

“You know, I started thinking about ‘How did I end up here like this? Why did I end up here like this?” Coleman said. “How did I become addicted the way that I was?”

Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG Brands), declined to comment on the marketing actions of the previous owners of the Kool cigarette brand.

“However, we can affirm that the company takes its commitment as a responsible manufacturer of tobacco products seriously and does not target any individual demographic group as part of its marketing and advertising practices,” ITG brands spokesperson Alexandra Wich said.

The result of marketing campaigns like these, advocates for bans on the sale of flavored tobacco say, has been a steep rise in Black and young smokers using menthol cigarettes. Black adults have the highest percentage of menthol cigarette use compared to other racial and ethnic groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among adult Black smokers, 85% preferred menthol cigarettes, according to a 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Additionally, more than seven out of 10 Black youth ages 12-17 years who smoke use menthol cigarettes, according to the CDC.

To try and undo some of the targeting, Coleman has partnered with the Coalition to End Tobacco Targeting, a group focused on supporting Columbus in enacting legislation to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.

Sales restrictions on all flavored tobacco products, including all types of menthol products, are gaining momentum at the local and state level, according to the Truth Initiative, an anti-tobacco advocacy group. As many as 361 localities and three Native American tribes have placed some type of restriction on flavored tobacco products, including 108 total bans on menthol flavoring.

The Coalition to End Tobacco Targeting has partnered with other local and medical organizations, including the Columbus Urban League and the Columbus NAACP chapter.

Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation/Tobacco 21, another partner in the coalition, has also been documenting a shocking rise in teen nicotine use, driven by easy access to flavored e-cigarettes, Amanda Turner, the group’s executive director, said.

Electronic cigarettes are devices that heat a fluid typically containing nicotine into a vapor that can be inhaled.

In 2021, approximately, 2.55 million (9.3%) students reported using an e-cigarette in the past 30 days; including 2.06 million (13.4%) high school students and 470,000 (4.0%) middle school students, according to the FDA.

“It’s become abundantly clear that the tobacco industry is back to their old tricks with the e-cigarettes,” Turner said.  “It’s obvious — where they used to have candy — that’s where they have these (e-cigarette) devices.”

The federal Food and Drug Administration has also expressed concerns about the need for more regulation on menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco products. In late April, the FDA announced that it was proposing prohibiting menthol cigarette and flavored cigar sales in order to prevent youth initiation into smoking and prevent additional tobacco-related deaths.

The FDA estimates that 324,000 to 654,000 smoking attributable deaths overall — 92,000 to 238,000 among African Americans — would be avoided over the course of 40 years.

‘Where the rubber meets the road’

In 2020, Columbus City Council declared racism a public health crisis in order to emphasize the city’s “full attention to improving the quality of life and health of our minority residents.”

Coleman said he believes acting on flavored tobacco would be a step toward making good on his successor’s commitment.

“Racism is a public health crisis — well, this is where the rubber meets the road,” Coleman said. “And because as a victim, I can describe how I was targeted. The Black community was targeted and continues to be targeted.”

Dr. Mysheika Roberts, Columbus Health Department commissioner, noted disparities in health among marginalized communities that arise from smoking.

In addition to increased risks of cancer and cardiac issues, diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death among African Americans, according to the CDC. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for cigarette smokers than nonsmokers.

Roberts noted “there are health equity issues when we think about how minority communities are targeted with menthol and flavored tobaccos.”

“There is no helpful benefit to smoking tobacco. There are only harms — whatever we can do in our community to reduce smoking,” Roberts said. “(Marginalized communities and young people) are being targeted and being given a product that is more likely to become addictive — we need to improve their health.”

Building a coalition

Members of the coalition emphasized that the work toward advocating for a flavored tobacco ban is still in its infancy, and proposed legislation has yet to be drafted.

If a ban on sale went forward, it would be regulatory only and residents possessing flavored tobacco would not be handled on a criminal basis, Roberts said. Coleman said it was important to ensure this effort targets tobacco licensing only.

“Police will have no role — zero — in any of this,” Coleman said.

Alex Boehnke, public affairs manager at the Ohio Council of Retail Merchant, said while retailers will follow whatever the laws and regulatory frameworks may be, he said retailers prefer consistent regulations on a statewide level rather than a patchwork.

Boehnke also noted consumer demand for flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes, and said a potential demand could drive the products into an unregulated and illegal market.

“These products are legal and within a regulatory environment,” Boehnke said. “A ban could potentially drive this under an illicit market.”

A spokesperson for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, manufacturer of Newport cigarettes and former manufacturer of Kool cigarettes, said evidence from Canada and Europe where similar bans have been imposed, show little impact on overall cigarette consumption. The spokesperson said in a statement said the company sees harm reduction as a better route to focus attention than banning the sale of menthol cigarettes.

“The FDA rulemaking process is a multiyear, multistep process,” a statement read. “We are reviewing the details of the proposed regulations and will continue to actively participate in the rulemaking process by submitting science-based comments to FDA.”

While the FDA continues to work toward new rules on flavored cigarette tobacco sales, each member of the coalition brings a different perspective to the table for the advocacy process.

“It’s terrifying as a parent when you hear about (e-cigarettes) being found in elementary schools and middle schools,” Turner said.

Davis said Columbus needs to take this step to make “our community more healthy so they live longer.”

“I understand that is a strong piece of the economy for the United States, but as contributing as it is to the economics, it also contributes to the health crisis in this country,” Davis said.

A number of area pastors, Davis said, have taken a faith-based approach to raising awareness about the issue.

Davis said Trinity Baptist and other area churches took part in “No Menthol Sunday” on May 14, an annual campaign by The Center for Black Health & Equity that encourages churchgoers to avoid smoking that day.

Coleman said when he was asked to join the coalition, he had a flashback to the time he was in the hospital, gasping for air.

“This is one of the most important things I’ve worked on,” Coleman said. “But this is about saving lives, saving generations in the Black and white community. This impacts everybody.”

Cole Behrens is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch covering public safety and breaking news. You can reach him at CBehrens@dispatch.com or find him on Twitter at @Colebehr_report.

Michigan lawmakers prioritize tobacco industry over Michigan youth with bills expanding access to tobacco and vaping products

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                     Contact: Laura Biehl, Resch Strategies
May 24, 2022                                                              laura@reschstrategies.com, 248-921-5008

Michigan lawmakers prioritize tobacco industry over Michigan youth with bills expanding access to tobacco and vaping products

Bills allow for home delivery, lower prices and lax retailer penalties for selling to minors

Lansing, Mich. – Michigan lawmakers are protecting the tobacco industry instead of Michigan youth by advancing legislation that expands access to tobacco and vaping products, the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance warned today.

Founded in 2019, the Alliance includes nearly 70 public health and community organizations working to pass comprehensive legislation proven to protect Michigan youth from the dangers of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

Legislation that advanced quickly today by the House Regulatory Reform Committee raises the age for tobacco sales without including a meaningful enforcement mechanism to ensure retailers comply. Additionally, Michigan has one of the highest rates of illegal sales to young people in the nation and the largest number of FDA-issued “no sales” orders. According to the FDA, since January 2021, Michigan’s violation rate for underage sales is 42 percent, more than double the allowed rate to continue receiving federal funding.

“While we support bringing Michigan’s age of sale in line with federal law, this legislation is a missed opportunity to truly impact Michigan’s youth tobacco epidemic,” said Shannon Quinby, Eastern Regional Director for Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation/Tobacco 21. “With no plan to reduce the alarmingly high number of retailer violations for sales to youth, these bills will not serve their purpose and Michigan’s federal SAMHSA funding remains at risk.”

House Bills 6108 and 6109 are tie-barred to Senate legislation (Senate Bill 720) that allows tobacco products to be ordered for home delivery, which will directly increase youth access to tobacco products. Senate Bill 720 also lowers the state tax on some tobacco products making them more affordable for kids. Cheap tobacco does not benefit anyone except the tobacco industry.

“Our shared priority should be keeping highly addictive tobacco products out of the hands of our kids, not increasing accessibility and lowering the cost of them,” said Paul Steiner, executive director of Tobacco Free Michigan. “Michigan lawmakers are heading down a dangerous path and our kids will be the ones who will suffer the consequences. We strongly urge Michigan lawmakers and Governor Whitmer to reject these bills and show Michigan kids that their health matters more than tobacco industry profits.”

Members of the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance include:

  • Allegiance Health
  • Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities
  • American Cancer Society – Cancer Action Network
  • American Heart Association
  • American Indian Veterans of Michigan
  • American Lung Association
  • Arbor Circle
  • Ascension Michigan
  • Beaumont Teen Health Center
  • BreatheWell Newaygo County
  • Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
  • CARE of Southeastern Michigan
  • Cherry Health
  • Community Mental Health Association of Michigan
  • Genesee Health Plan
  • Genesee County Medical Society
  • Genesee County Prevention Coalition
  • Henry Ford Health System
  • Hurley Medical Center
  • Ingham County Medical Society
  • March of Dimes
  • Mercy Health
  • McLaren Health Care
  • Michigan’s Children
  • Michigan Academy of Family Physicians
  • Michigan Association of Local Public Health
  • Michigan Black Caucus Foundation
  • Michigan Catholic Conference
  • Michigan Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Michigan Chapter of American College of Cardiology
  • Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health
  • Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners
  • Michigan Health and Hospital Association
  • Michigan League for Public Policy/Kids’ Count
  • Michigan Nurses Association
  • Michigan Osteopathic Association
  • Michigan Public Health Coalition
  • Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology
  • Michigan State Medical Society
  • Michigan State University – College of Human Medicine
  • Michigan State University Extension
  • Michigan Thoracic Society
  • Newaygo County Great Start Collaborative
  • Parents Against Vaping
  • Prevention Network Michigan
  • Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation
  • Sacred Heart Center
  • Saint Joseph Mercy Health System
  • School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan
  • South Eastern Michigan Indians
  • Spectrum Health
  • Tobacco Free Michigan
  • Trinity Health
  • Washtenaw County Medical Society

For more information on the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance, visit keepmikidstobaccofree.com.

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