Resources:
Webinar Slides
City and County of San Francisco Tobacco Distributor Notification Letter

Description:
Studies suggest about one third of underage e-cigarette users in the U.S. purchase e-cigarettes online, avoiding the minimum legal sales age and ID check of in-person sales. Because of this problem, Congress recently updated federal law to impose delivery sales restrictions on e-cigarettes. California state law also regulates tobacco product deliveries, including many provisions designed to prevent sales to youth. A 2020 update to the STAKE Act strengthened delivery sales rules for all tobacco products and gave local enforcement authorities a role in preventing illegal online sales. Local jurisdictions can go further: entirely prohibiting or further regulating online tobacco sales, or enforcing minimum legal sales age laws against online sellers.

Presenters will: explain the new federal prohibition on the shipping of e-cigarettes and related products through the U.S. Postal Service; describe regulatory controls on delivery sales that already apply to tobacco products at the state and federal levels; give real-world examples of educating online retailers to prevent illegal sales; and talk about past enforcement actions against online retailers selling to youth.

Presenters:
Yosef Mahmood, Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office
Janine Young, San Francisco Department of Public Health
Julie Amajuoyi, Public Health Law Center
Hudson Kingston, Public Health Law Center