E-commerce licensing loopholes: a case study of online shopping for tobacco products following a statewide sales restriction on flavoured tobacco in California

Abstract

IntroductionRetailer licensing programmes can be an effective method of enforcing tobacco control laws, but most programmes do not require e-commerce retailers to obtain licenses. California’s implementation of a statewide flavour restriction (Senate Bill 793 (SB-793)) in December 2022 enforced through its tobacco retailer licensing programme presented an opportunity to assess whether the exclusion of e-commerce in the definition of ‘tobacco retailer’ might have resulted in a shift in consumer behaviour towards e-commerce.MethodsTo examine the association between SB-793 implementation and online shopping for tobacco, we collected weekly Google search rates related to online shopping for cigarettes and vaping products in California from January 2018 to May 2023. We compared observed rates of shopping queries after SB-793 implementation to counterfactual expected rates and prediction intervals (PI) calculated from autoregressive iterative moving average models fit to historical trends. Content analysis was performed on the search results to identify websites marketing flavoured vaping products and menthol cigarettes.ResultsThe week SB-793 was implemented, shopping queries were 194.4% (95% PI 100.8% to 451.5%) and 161.7% (95% PI 81.7% to 367.5%) higher than expected for cigarettes and vapes, respectively. Cigarette shopping queries remained elevated significantly for 11 weeks and vape shopping queries for 6 weeks. All search results contained links to websites that offered flavoured vaping products or menthol cigarettes to Californian consumers.DiscussionThese findings raise concerns about potential loopholes in policy enforcement created by the absence of explicit regulations on e-commerce sales in retailer licensing programmes. Strengthening regulations to include e-commerce and monitoring e-commerce compliance are recommended to enhance the impact of laws enforced through retailer licensing programmes.

State Cannabis and Psychedelic Legislation and Microdosing Interest in the US

“…Although nationally representative surveys such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and Monitoring the Future have shown increases in self-reported psychedelic use in recent years, they fall short of detailing dosing specifics. 27 , 28 , 29 Google searches can serve as a measure of demand or interest in specific products, 30 including psychoactive substances, 31 , 32 , 33 with search content potentially revealing search intent. We used trends in Google searches for “microdosing” to describe public interest across the US and a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach to test whether public interest increased following the enactment of statewide medical and recreational cannabis use policies and state or local psychedelic use policies.…”

Need for improved regulation of tobacco e-commerce

“…Even after reopening, many brick-and-mortar retailers have continued to maintain their e-commerce platforms and operate as 'brick-and-click' retailers; finding that operating both platforms is more lucrative than just one and that e-commerce allows them to circumvent some policies such as flavour sales restrictions. 3 The climate of COVID-19 also created a new demand among consumers who discovered the benefits of e-commerce, including competitive pricing, convenience and access to a wider variety of products. 4 Survey data collected during the pandemic demonstrates that e-commerce became the primary method youth used to access vaping products, when nearly 40% of youth and young adult vapers purchased their pod-based or other refillable e-cigarettes online.…”