Tobacco education and research oversight committee (teroc)

Achieving Health Equity: Standing Together Against Commercial Tobacco & Nicotine, 2025–2026

Objective 4: Protect Youth and Young Adults From Tobacco

Key Themes

Knowing that most people who become regular tobacco users start when young, the industry develops products designed to appeal to youth and young adults.
Programming aimed at building the knowledge and skills of youth concerning the industry and its deadly products is critical to countering this trend.
When encouraged to take active roles, youth and young adults make powerful tobacco prevention advocates.

The tobacco industry has a long history of targeting young people, knowing that those who become addicted early often become customers for life.1 The industry designs and markets new products to be appealing to young people as a way to replace older customers who quit or die.2 The continually evolving tobacco product landscape includes products easy for young people to access and use, even in school settings.3 Young people in general are susceptible to the industry’s tactics, but longstanding disparities mean that students in priority populations are particularly vulnerable. Heightened vigilance is needed to protect youth in these populations. Increased focus on tobacco prevention is also needed in school districts that do not currently have Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) funding, especially those in rural areas of California.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which closed schools and forced instruction online, exposed how reliant young people are on social media, and how rife social media is with pro-tobacco and pro-cannabis messaging.4,5 Netflix and other streaming media platforms likewise feature many positive depictions of tobacco and cannabis use.6 The pandemic also exposed the fact that many young people struggle with mental health challenges, which can increase the likelihood of using tobacco and other substances.7 Unsurprisingly, many vapes and cannabis products are marketed as wellness products with stress-reducing properties.8,9 Yet nicotine has been shown to change the chemistry in the adolescent brain and affect attention, memory and learning.10,11 Cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood can also cause difficulty with attention, memory and learning, and can increase the risk of mental health issues, such as depression and social anxiety.12 Schools that offer TUPE services are uniquely positioned to understand students’ needs and support them in developing healthier coping mechanisms.

Five smiling high school students wear sweatshirts with the words “TUPE/Stand Up Speak Out.” Between them a table display shows Contra Costa students participate in a student-led, school-wide event promoting tobacco-free living.

Source: Contra Costa County Office of Education

Experience has shown that young people can be active participants in the fight against tobacco. In fact, many play meaningful roles in countering tobacco industry tactics, and help to build the next generation of public health advocates and researchers who may play even more impactful roles in the future.13

Recommended Strategies

Policy

Increase the cost to purchase tobacco, such as by setting minimum prices and prohibiting discounts and giveaways of free product samples, as young people are more price-sensitive than older adults.14
Restrict online access to vapes and other tobacco products by amending tobacco retailer license (TRL) laws to require in-person sales.
Impose zoning restrictions on tobacco and cannabis retailers near schools and other youth-oriented facilities.
Enforce existing laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco and cannabis products to people under 21 years old.
Where ending the sale of commercial tobacco is currently infeasible, consider gradual approaches, such as pairing retailer reduction with “nicotine-free generation” policies that prohibit tobacco product sales to anyone born after a specific date.15,16
Prohibit tobacco and cannabis industry sponsorship of events attended by people under 21.17
Replace possession, use and purchase (PUP) laws, which penalize youth and are ineffective, with retailer-focused enforcement.18 (See also Objective 1.)
Support legislation to require that students caught with tobacco or cannabis receive intervention or cessation services such as Youth Vaping Alternative Program Education (YVAPE), not punishment.
Increase the percentage of K–12 school districts with a TUPE-certified tobacco-free policy, and the percentage of colleges, universities, and vocational schools with a comprehensive tobacco-free campus policy.19,20

Five young students in front of a classroom present about tobacco to their peers. San Joaquin County students participate in a Friday Night Live and Club Live event.

Source: Club Live – Alex G. Spanos Elementary School, Stockton Unified School District

Five high school students in a roomful of peers hold up handmade posters with tobacco use statistics Students participate in the California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN) Statewide Youth Advocacy Conference.

Source: CYAN

Education

Build the knowledge and skills of elementary, middle, and high school students regarding tobacco and cannabis to help them make healthy choices and avoid initiating use.
Help students who are experimenting with or regularly using tobacco or cannabis to build their coping and resiliency skills to aid them in quitting these substances.
Engage students in activities that further develop their knowledge of tobacco prevention and their leadership skills, such as providing peer-to-peer training and participating in advocacy.
Continue to ensure that school curricula keep pace with the changing landscape of tobacco and cannabis products and that educators receive timely information on emerging products. (See also Objective 3.)
Enforce existing laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco and cannabis products to people under 21 (or 18 for medical marijuana with a prescription).
Educate media companies about the negative influence of tobacco and cannabis product placement on young people and encourage them to adopt policies restricting the practice.

Research

Conduct ongoing surveillance of youth and young adult behaviors and attitudes with respect to tobacco and cannabis products, including new and emerging products.
Research strategies to help young people quit both tobacco and cannabis products, including culturally tailored and age-appropriate approaches.
Research ways to increase referrals to and utilization of intervention and cessation services among young people.

Partnership

Encourage collaboration between TUPE programs and mental health providers and substance use prevention programs for youth.
Encourage local health departments, school districts, and community-based organizations to work together on joint action plans to reduce tobacco and cannabis use among young people.

Funding

Increase funding for capacity building resources (e.g., curricula and technical assistance) for all school districts in California to help them provide tobacco-use prevention education.
Award competitive grants to school districts providing robust TUPE services, especially those that demonstrate with data that they are reaching underserved populations.
Provide spending flexibility to allow TUPE grantees to integrate mental health approaches in their tobacco intervention and cessation services.
Prioritize funding for programs that help young people develop leadership skills and that empower them to take meaningful roles in tobacco and cannabis prevention.

A student speaks into a microphone surrounded by peers who are protesting tobacco industry manipulation of young people. Students participate in Youth Quest 2024, organized by California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN).

Source: CYAN

Download Objective 4 (PDF, 1.67 MB).

Download the full 2025–2026 TEROC Plan (PDF, 4.9 MB).

References

1 US Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2012.
2 World Health Organization. Hooking the Next Generation: How the Tobacco Industry Captures Young Customers. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024.

3 Selekman J. Vaping: it’s all a smokescreen. Pediatric Nursing. 2019;45(1):12–15,35.

4 Rutherford BN, Lim CCW, Cheng B, et al. Viral vaping: a systematic review and meta analysis of e-cigarette and tobacco-related social media content and its influence on youth behaviours and attitudes. Addict Behav. 2023;147:107828.

5 Willoughby JF, Hust SJT, Li J, Couto L. Exposure to pro and anti-cannabis social media messages and teens’ and college students’ intentions to use cannabis. Health Commun. 2024;39(1):183–194.

6 Truth Initiative. Lights, Camera, Tobacco? How Rising Smoking and Vaping Imagery in Top Entertainment Influences E-Cigarette Use and Fuels Nicotine Addiction Among Young Audiences: While You Were Streaming 2023 (PDF, 5MB). March 5, 2024.

7 Brener ND, Bohm MK, Jones CM, et al. Use of tobacco products, alcohol, and other substances among high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic - Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, United States, January–June 2021. MMWR Suppl. 2022;71(3):8–15.

8 Truth Initiative. How the tobacco industry markets vaping nicotine as stress relief. November 7, 2023.

9 Ling PM, Crosbie E, Holmes LM, Hoang C, Hoeper S. Cannabis dispensary online marketing practices in response to COVID-19 lockdowns. Subst Abus. 2022;43(1):1116–1119.

10 Benowitz NL. Nicotine addiction. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(24):2295–2303.
11 Office of the Surgeon General. Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2018.

12 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2017.

13 Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Youth initiatives.

14 Le TTT, Jaffri MA. The association between smoking behaviors and prices and taxes per cigarette pack in the United States from 2000 through 2019. BMC Public Health. 2022;22(1):856.

15 LeBlanc S. Court upholds town bylaw banning anyone born in 21st century from buying tobacco products. AP News. March 11, 2024.

16 Malone RE, McAfee T. Birthdate-based commercial tobacco sales restrictions: will ‘tobacco-free generation’ policies advance or delay the endgame? Tob Control. Published online June 19, 2024.

17 Truth Initiative. How tobacco companies use experiential marketing.

18 Public Health Law Center. Youth purchase, use, or possession (PUP): commercial tobacco laws and penalties (PDF). April 2024.

19 California Youth Advocacy Network. College and university smoke and tobacco-free policy report card. June 2024.

20 American Nonsmokers Rights Foundation. Smokefree colleges and universities continue to grow in popularity.

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