Cigarette sales to minors via the internet: how the story has changed in the wake of federal regulation.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess how easily minors can purchase cigarettes online and online cigarette vendors' compliance with federal age/ID verification and shipping regulations, North Carolina's 2013 tobacco age verification law, and federal prohibitions on the sale of non-menthol flavoured cigarettes or those labelled or advertised as 'light'.

Methods

In early 2014, 10 minors aged 14-17 attempted to purchase cigarettes by credit card and electronic check from 68 popular internet vendors.

Results

Minors received cigarettes from 32.4% of purchase attempts, all delivered by the US Postal Service (USPS) from overseas sellers. None failed due to age/ID verification. All failures were due to payment processing problems. USPS left 63.6% of delivered orders at the door with the remai

SUBMITTER: Williams RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5236008 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature