An additional defect in the settlement is its differentiation among tobacco retailers. Tobacco can be displayed in these stores and can be accessed by customers. NACS is skeptical that these establishments can totally control youth access at their doors. The proposed settlement which you are being asked to consider purports to solve the problem of underage consumption of tobacco via a draconian set of access and promotion restrictions. The proposed settlement's singular focus on access and promotion restrictions, as a surrogate for youth consumption of tobacco, is fatally flawed.
Research indicates that the principal inducement for minors' smoking is peer pressure.
As a consequence, unless the proposed settlement is modified to address the root cause of minors' smoking, peer pressure, any legislation enacted to implement this settlement will fail to reduce underage consumption of tobacco. If the objective of the proposed settlement is to reduce underage consumption of tobacco rather than simply to vilify manufacturers and retailers, then there is a better approach to addressing these problems than that contained in the proposed settlement. This approach is, to a substantial extent, embodied in S. 1238, introduced by Senator Gordon Smith. The approach set forth in S. 1238, and supported by NACS, constitutes a fully integrated program which would allocate to all members of the community, who can have an impact on youth consumption of tobacco, those burdens which these individuals can reasonably be expected to fulfill. The approach supported by NACS would impose a number of obligations on retailers.