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Public Health Briefings

The Tobacco Vending Machine: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed

John P. Fulton, PhD

Published in: Rhode Island Medicine, 1995;78(3) 98

John P. Fulton is Assistant Director, Division of Preventive Health Services, Rhode Island Department of Health, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Community Health, Brown University School of Medicine.

Introduction

In July 1994 Governor Sundlun created a Task Force to Restrict Youth Access to Tobacco ("the Task Force"). The Task Force was charged with recommending policies and procedures designed to reduce youth access to tobacco products through education, enforcement and community support initiatives. In September, the Task Force undertook a statewide Tobacco Vendors Compliance Survey (the Survey), to measure tobacco vendors' compliance with the Rhode Island state law which prohibits the sale of tobacco to persons under 18 years of age. Cigarettes were offered for sale to minors at 100 of 175 (57%) over-the-counter sites. Minors were not challenged in the use of tobacco vending machines at 70 of 85 (82%) vending machine sites. These results are similar to those reported elsewhere, demonstrating the relative ease with which minors can obtain cigarettes from tobacco vending machines.

Vending Machines: Great Labor Saving Devices

Vending machines are labor saving devices. They permit sales in places where volume is insufficient to support a sales clerk, but where purchasers value the availability of certain items for sale. They also reduce the cost of sales where volume is sufficient to support a sales clerk, but customer assistance is unnecessary. For example, it is convenient for hotel guests to have access to soft drinks, snacks, and sundries near their rooms. Vending machines permit hotel management to provide this access at low cost.

The Trouble with Kids

The trouble with kids is they don't always listen to directions, including state laws. Kids need adult supervision to set effective limits on behavior. If kids listened to directions without adult supervision, they wouldn't purchase tobacco products in Rhode Island, where the practice is prohibited for all persons under 18. But they do, and between 20 and 30 percent of Rhode Island's high school seniors are regular smokers (the proportion varies by demographic subgroup). Kids purchase millions of packs of cigarettes every year in Rhode Island.

Vending Machines: Poor Limit Setters

Presently, when minors attempt to purchase cigarettes, they have the following choices: ask a sales clerk to sell them a pack, or drop some quarters into a nice, secluded vending machine. One out of two times (and that proportion is growing with tobacco vendor education in the State), the clerk will challenge them. Even "safe" clerks, who don't challenge cigarette purchases, tend to come and go, given the nature of the job. In short, asking a sales clerk to sell a pack of cigarettes is an "iffy" affair. The vending machine, by contrast, if itself unsupervised by an adult, merely confronts purchasers with a small sign, advising them that the purchase of tobacco products by persons under 18 years of age is illegal. These signs, as one may imagine, are not very effective in limiting the behavior of teens in search of cigarettes, especially those addicted to nicotine who crave another smoke. As limit setters, vending machines are complete failures.

Vending Machines: A Little Help, Please!

Tobacco vending machines, as currently designed, need human supervision to set limits with underage purchasers. Someday, of course, "smart" vending machines might be able to differentiate between minors and adults. Right now, however, tobacco vending machines are dumb. They need our help. They need, at a very minimum, to be watched by responsible persons. This means they have to come out of the closet, literally, and the foyer, and the basement, and all the other places they have provided a convenience to smokers. Then, if we want to protect the machines from the foibles of human supervisors (they do turn their backs, once in a while, and they can get awfully busy with more important tasks), we need to install electronic switches in the machines, switches controlled by human supervisors which activate the machine only momentarily.

And No Candy, Please!

Most tobacco vending machines, although dumb, have the virtue of being simple. They sell cigarettes, only. This makes them easy to supervise, when placed in plain sight of responsible persons. Minors have no business using them. That's simple. Unfortunately, vending machines of newer design can dispense a wide variety of items, including snacks, candy, sundries, and tobacco. This makes them virtually impossible to supervise. Tobacco must not be mixed with other items. This practice, currently rare in Rhode Island, must be prohibited, either voluntarily or by state law.

How about a Ban on Tobacco Vending Machines?

Of course, the simplest solution to preventing minors from using tobacco vending machines is to ban the machines entirely. Unfortunately, the machines represent a living for some of our neighbors, who oppose the ban. If a ban is to be politically acceptable, it may have to be phased-in over a number of years, allowing time for the vending machine businesses in the State to adjust.

What Can Physicians Do?

Physicians have a direct stake in the control of tobacco vending machines. As currently placed, with the convenience of the purchaser in mind, these machines are a major source of tobacco for minors. They help get kids addicted to nicotine, an addiction that about 25% of Rhode Island's adults have not yet broken. The rest of the story is well known among medical providers. Tobacco use is a scourge, a major cause of cancer, heart disease, and lung disease.

If we effectively restrict the use of tobacco vending machines by minors, fewer kids will start to use tobacco, and ultimately, fewer adults will continue to use tobacco. This is a task which requires community-wide collaboration. The leadership of physicians is needed at the grassroots level, in cities and towns throughout the State, and at the state level, working for change in the State legislature. One of the best ways to work at the grassroots level is through your local Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force. (Call the Rhode Island Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force Association, 401-568-3212, for more information about the Task Force in your area.) One of the best ways to work at the state level is through the Coalition on Smoking OR Health. (Call the Coalition via the Cancer Society, 401-722-8480, or the Lung Association, 401-421-6487, or the Heart Association, 401-728-5300.) Working together, we can make a difference.