Tobacco Free Legislation

FDA Regulates Tobacco Products

Historic legislation grants authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products. President Obama signed the Family Smoking and Prevention Act this past June. Several highlights of the bill are: (1) to crack down on tobacco marketing and sales to kids; (2) ban candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes; (3) and require larger, more effective health warnings on tobacco products. The Food and Drug Administration announced that Lawrence Deyton, formally the Chief Public Health and Environmental Hazards Officer at the Department of Veteran Affairs, will serve as the Director of the new Center on Tobacco Products.

Ruling Prohibits Poospatuck Reservation Smoke Shops from Selling Cigarettes Tax-Free to General Public

Tax increases are proven to reduce tobacco use and discourage youth initiation, but many smokers bypass paying any taxes by going to Indian reservations to purchase tax-free cigarettes for their own use or for re-sale in other markets. However, a federal judge on August 26, 2009 issued a ruling challenging this practice. The rights of tribe members to purchase tax-free cigarettes on reservations do not extend to the general public, according to U. S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon. This new ruling bars a group of smoke shops on Long Island’s Poospatuck Reservation from selling cigarettes tax-free to the general public, claiming that their location on tribal lands does not exempt them from state and federal tax law.

First-in-Nation Ban on E-Cigarettes

Suffolk County became the first municipality in the U.S. to legislate restrictions on the latest, high-tech smoking threat, the electronic cigarette when the Legislature voted on August 18th to ban public use and restrict youth access. Legislator Jon Cooper championed this bill which bans the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 19 and prohibits their use in public places where traditional cigarettes are already prohibited. The law will take effect 90 days after it is signed by New York’s Secretary of State in Albany.