Restricting flavored tobacco could curb youth use
Published: November 5, 2019
Policies that restrict flavored tobacco access can reduce teen use in as little as six months, a study in Massachusetts suggests.
Researchers compared two towns 30 miles apart and found that after one community passed a restrictive policy in 2016, flavored tobacco availability and use dropped the next year. There was little change in the other community, according to the results in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“Given recent nationwide increases in youth tobacco use, largely driven by youth e-cigarette use, and the recent emergence of lung disease linked to e-cigarette use and vaping, it is critically important to implement and evaluate strategies to curb youth use,” said lead study author Melody Kingsley of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in Boston.
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