Supply circuits for minors in electronic cigarettes in Anglo-Saxon countries

According to a literature review, minors in the countries studied obtain e-cigarettes mainly through their entourage, and secondarily through the commercial circuit. These circuits and the way in which these entourage obtain these products remain to be documented, however. The commercial circuit does not seem to respect the sales bans in force and would require, according to the authors, stricter controls and sanctions.

Many countries have banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Researchers have tried to identify how young people obtain these products and to assess whether the sales bans in place are being respected.

With this in mind, a team of New Zealand researchers conducted a literature review on this subject.[1].

Predominance of supply of minors by knowledge

Of the 17 studies included in this literature review, 14 concerned the United States, one Canada, one Australia and one involved several countries: United States, Canada, England. These studies indicated overall that the gift and loan of electronic cigarettes would be the main sources of supply (43 % to 85 % depending on the studies, weighted average = 75 %) of minors having consumed them in the last 30 days. The sharing of equipment (37 % of the sources of supply reported by young people) was mentioned in only one study, but appeared to be an important practice.

These informally obtained e-cigarettes most often came from "a friend" (47 % to 55 %, weighted average = 52 %), but in many cases also from the family circle (5 % to 28%, weighted average = 11 %). However, the methods by which these friends obtained the products were not established.

Obtaining e-cigarettes in a commercial channel was quite variable (14 % to 41 %). It was mainly done in physical stores (52 % to 82 %, weighted average according to the number of participants = 62 %), with online sales being much less frequent (24 % to 32 %, weighted average = 31 %); these purchases sometimes came from “other” sources, which were not always defined. Physical stores could be stores specializing in vaping (4 % to 28 %, weighted average = 14 %), gas stations (6% to 22%, weighted average = 12%), tobacco shops or other types of stores. One study found that chain stores were generally more compliant with the ban on sales to minors than independent stores.

A call to strengthen controls and sanctions in the commercial circuit

The authors of the study thus observe a great diversity of sources of supply among miners. These sources of supply would be all the more worthy of being explored since they are most often located in school environment. Since sharing equipment with peers appears to be a common practice, studies would benefit from better defining the boundary between lending and sharing equipment. Sales to minors made in stores indicate that regulations are far from being respected. The authors suggest on this point strengthening controls, using mystery shoppers, and being more severe in terms of sanctions (heavy fines, withdrawal of the sales license).

E-cigarette supply practices may differ from one country to another, particularly depending on legislation, but studies on this subject are lacking, particularly for non-Anglo-Saxon countries. Faced with the difficulty of comparing data with different collection methodologies, the authors suggest strengthening this type of study by developing a standardized approach using the same types of formulations and response categories.

Keywords: Electronic cigarettes, informal economy, sales to minors.

M.F.

[1] Graham-DeMello A, Hoek J, Drew J. How do underage youth access e-cigarettes in settings with minimum age sales restriction laws? A scoping review. BMC Public Health 23, 1809 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16755-9