Carey Naoka, Lanteri Lindsay, Hawkins Summer Sherburne
Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend Rep. 2024 Apr 24;12:100236. doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2024.100236. eCollection 2024 Sep.
To understand the impact of laws raising minimum legal sales age for tobacco products to age 21, researchers and policymakers need to recognize how recommended policy components vary across states. This paper identified and reviewed policy components across 43 jurisdictions that have enacted Tobacco 21 (T21) laws since 2015.
Using NexisUni's database of state laws and legislation, we evaluated T21 laws in effect as of January 2024 and assessed for the incorporation of six components recommended in proposed model legislation: 1) age verification; 2) tobacco retailer licensing; 3) provisions to suspend or revoke a license; 4) unannounced inspections; 5) retailer civil or criminal penalties; and 6) provisions that allow for more stringent local laws.
Only one state included all six components we reviewed, including limiting penalties to civil fines. All jurisdictions included a provision to change the legal sales age of purchase and 37 imposed requirements on retailers to verify identification. Thirty-eight jurisdictions had licensing programs, but only 31 included license suspension or revocation provisions for underage sales. Twenty-three jurisdictions preempt localities from imposing more stringent requirements. Twenty-five jurisdictions use a mix of civil and criminal or solely criminal penalties and 21 jurisdictions have penalties for underage purchasers.
Our database of recommended T21 components with effective dates can be merged with other datasets to facilitate policy evaluation. We discuss ways to enhance research and data collection in this area, and recommend that states update MLSA laws to adopt all recommended policy components.
为了解将烟草制品最低法定销售年龄提高到21岁的法律所产生的影响，研究人员和政策制定者需要认识到推荐的政策组成部分在各州之间是如何不同的。本文确定并审查了自2015年以来颁布了“烟草21岁”（T21）法律的43个司法管辖区的政策组成部分。
利用律商联讯（NexisUni）的州法律和立法数据库，我们评估了截至2024年1月生效的T21法律，并评估了拟议示范立法中推荐的六个组成部分的纳入情况：1）年龄验证；2）烟草零售商许可；3）暂停或吊销许可证的规定；4）突击检查；5）零售商的民事或刑事处罚；6）允许制定更严格地方法规的规定。
只有一个州纳入了我们审查的所有六个组成部分，包括将处罚限制为民事罚款。所有司法管辖区都纳入了一项改变法定购买年龄的规定，37个司法管辖区对零售商实施了身份验证要求。38个司法管辖区有许可计划，但只有31个司法管辖区纳入了对未成年人销售的许可证暂停或吊销规定。23个司法管辖区禁止地方实施更严格的要求。25个司法管辖区采用民事和刑事混合处罚或仅采用刑事处罚，21个司法管辖区对未成年购买者有处罚规定。
我们的带有生效日期的推荐T21组成部分数据库可以与其他数据集合并，以促进政策评估。我们讨论了加强该领域研究和数据收集的方法，并建议各州更新示范立法法案（MLSA）法律，以采用所有推荐的政策组成部分。
