Deschutes County may license tobacco retailers
(Update: Adding city, county, retailer comments)
A new statewide assessment of Oregon retailers that carry tobacco shows the reach of tobacco industry marketing, the Oregon Health Authority said. The report highlights ads and products designed to appeal to youth, as well as heavy marketing to communities of color and people living with lower incomes. It comes as Deschutes County and other areas consider enacting retail tobacco licensing.
Oregon Health Authority worked with county health department staff, tribes, community partners and volunteers across the state to conduct the assessment of nearly 2,000 Oregon tobacco retailers. This week, it released a report of the findings, along with recommended strategies to make retail outlets healthier for all Oregonians.
“The tobacco industry spends more than $100 million per year to market its products in Oregon communities,” said Lillian Shirley, director of the OHA Public Health Division. “It pours most of this money into convenience stores, grocery stores and other retailers where people shop daily. They know that kids who see tobacco marketing are more likely to start smoking and that tobacco ads trigger cravings for people trying to quit.”
Read the full statewide Tobacco Retail Assessment Report, as well as specific results for each county.
The assessment report included these key findings:
Statewide, nine out of 10 tobacco retailers sold fruit- and candy-flavored e-cigarettes or cigarillos. These included e-cigarette flavors such as “Pebbles Donuts” and “Tropical Fusion.” Flavored tobacco products appeal to kids and mask the natural harshness of tobacco. Four out of five Oregon youth who have used tobacco started with a flavored product. Menthol is also a flavor, and 96 percent of retailers carried menthol products. The tobacco industry markets menthol products heavily in African-American communities. Partly as a result, 60 percent of African American youth prefer Newport (menthol) cigarettes compared to 22 percent of white youth. Statewide, 64 percent of retailers used coupons and other discounts to make tobacco more affordable. Tobacco advertising appeared on the outside of nearly 50 percent of stores in the assessment. Inside the stores, 20 percent of retailers placed tobacco products next to candy and toys. Large tobacco displays at the checkout counter, called “power walls,” have been shown to encourage impulse tobacco buys among people trying to quit.
The report comes at a time when communities are increasingly concerned about flavored tobacco use among youth, especially e-cigarette products such as Juul. In 2018, Oregon began enforcing a new tobacco minimum legal sales age of 21. Initial results of the law show it may reduce the number of youth who start smoking. But the new retail assessment report illustrates that more work remains to be done.
Some cities and counties, including Klamath Falls and Multnomah County, are using tobacco retail licensure to track the sale of tobacco products, ensure retailers comply with the new sales age and keep tobacco products out of the hands of kids. Deschutes and Clatsop counties are considering similar proposals.
City of Bend Business Advocate Ben Hemson said, “I do recall the city council stating their support for the new tobacco rules at the request of the county at a meeting in late 2016 or early 2017. While tobacco licensing still isn’t in the scope, I do anticipate that we’ll have the ability to alert businesses to other regulations they may need to follow.”
Other counties are facing higher rates of minors using tobacco products.
“Clatsop County school officials and public health staff have reported students using e-cigarettes and other nicotine-delivery devices at alarming rates,” said Julia Hesse, Clatsop County health promotion specialist. “It seems inconceivable that we need a license to sell Christmas trees and own dogs in Oregon, but not to sell tobacco or nicotine products. We need a better way to hold retailers accountable if they illegally sell to youth.”
Sisters city councilors Wednesday night were set to receive a presentation and later consider a letter of support for Deschutes County’s proposal, in the works since 2016, to enact licensing of tobacco retailers.
County Commissioner Tony DeBone said Wednesday, “If it could happen, would it be a countywide ordinance or requirement from the Health Department to have the licensure in place for all the retailers.”
“Retailers are part of this,” he said. “They’re small businesses, and they’re trying to do their thing. Sometimes it is overwhelming, the (tobacco) advertising at the front door — and around the retail location. Do we need to regulate that by ordinance and law, or is there a partnership to be had?”
Crook County has begun a voluntary program for both alcohol and tobacco retailers, to ensure they aren’t selling to minors, by having “decoys” test their employees. (See related story in sidebar.)
A county presentation included in the Sister council’s agenda noted a statewide survey of 11th-graders found a significant jump from 2016 to 2018 in the percentage of those who said they are using tobacco or vaping, both numbers higher than the statewide figure.
Interviews with stores around the county found most see minors trying to buy tobacco, and about half of owners and managers said they do little to train staff how to avoid sales to minors. A majority of those interviewed supported a retail license system to help prevent youth from starting to use tobacco or vaping products.
However, some tobacco business owners are not pleased and feel the new licensure is unnecessary regulation by the state.
Dusty Hutchins, the owner of Piece of Mind, a downtown Bend tobacco shop, said, “I feel that a license, along with fees would put an extra burden on business owners. It would not only reduce bottom line but will help create a situation that is overlapped by the state government.”
Tobacco retail licensing is an ongoing discussion that county commissioners will decide on after receiving feedback from various city councilors at ongoing meeting.
