Moving Beyond Policy Adoption-The Necessity of Understanding the Whys and Hows

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) 2024-01, Vol.114 (1), p.10-11
• Main Author: Liber, Alex C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictions; Age; Companies; Content analysis; Drug addiction; Electronic cigarettes; Law; Legislation; Lobbying; Medical personnel; Minors; Organizations; Policies; Policy making; Public health; Smoking; Social response; Tobacco; Young adults
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307521

By 2019, leading public health organizations and tobacco companies alike, although driven by different motives, supported Tobacco 21 laws.2 A chapter of Karalyn Kiessling's recent University of Michigan doctoral dissertation contrasts the politics and policy process that drove the states of Colorado and Virginia to adopt Tobacco 21 laws.3 Through thick description, she paints a vivid portrait of a policy process in Virginia in which lobbyists from Altria, the nation's largest tobacco company, which has headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, "[did] all the work" to pass Tobacco 21, including writingthe bill, finding sponsors, finding medical professionals, and testifying in support of the legislation.3'13136) By contrast, in Colorado, public health organizations Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids served as policy entrepreneurs for the Tobacco 21 adoption effort. Importantly, they provide novel analyses that find that policies that continue to penalize young people for the purchase, use, or possession (PUP) of tobacco products yield higher youth tobacco use than policies without PUP provisions. Hrywna M, Adler RK, Delnevo CD, Slade JD. Content analysis and key informant interviews to examine community response to the purchase, possession, and/or use of tobacco by minors./ Community Health. 2004;29(3):209-216. https:// doi.org/1 0.1 023/BJOHE.0000022027.03119.38 8.