photo by: AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

In this Dec. 20, 2018, file photo, Juul products are displayed at a smoke shop in New York.

As Lawrence’s number of tobacco retailers continues to grow, health officials hope to discuss a potential temporary moratorium on new licenses – along with other changes to retailer rules – with city leaders.

Vicki Collie-Akers, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center and a representative with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said temporarily pausing the issuance of new tobacco retail licenses will give the community and the Lawrence City Commission time to consider how many retailers Lawrence can support.

“We have kind of introduced an idea around taking a break from licensing new retailers,” Collie-Akers said, “so that we can better understand the context and understand the City Commission’s will about how many tobacco retailers our community can support.”

Collie-Akers added that this could give the community additional time to evaluate the rapid growth of tobacco retailers before deciding whether other policy changes are needed.

“Given the growth that we have seen in our retailer environment, we think this is something that may be beneficial for the community,” Collie-Akers said.

The city’s current regulations establish a local tobacco retail licensing program that allows Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health to monitor businesses selling tobacco products and conduct compliance checks. The city currently has no limit on the number of licenses that can be issued, meaning businesses that meet the application requirements can become licensed tobacco retailers.

The number of licensed tobacco retailers in Lawrence has grown steadily since the city began its licensing program in 2023, increasing from 73 to 89 active retailers — a 22% increase in about three years.

Collie-Akers said the growth has been consistent, with a larger influx of licenses typically occurring during the December and January licensing period, followed by continued growth throughout the year.

“We really have a community where there are very few places where tobacco isn’t pretty accessible, and that’s what drives our concern,” Collie-Akers said.

Under the existing policy, the health department is required to conduct at least two compliance checks per retailer each year. During those checks, the department evaluates whether or not they will sell to someone younger than 21 attempting to purchase tobacco products.

LDCPH estimates that roughly 18% of retailers fail these checks by selling tobacco to an underage buyer.

“One in six to one in five retailers are selling to our underage buyer, which tells you that that’s a pretty significant non-compliance rate,” Collie-Akers said.

Businesses face escalating penalties for repeated violations. A first violation results in a citation and fine, while a second violation can lead to a seven-day closure. If violations continue, it can result in increasingly longer closures.

However, Collie-Akers said the city’s existing tobacco retail licensing policy has several potential loopholes that weaken its enforcement.

For example, the health department ran into a situation where two tobacco retailers each accumulated enough violations to face temporary closures, but they changed leadership. The change in leadership reset their records of noncompliance under the city’s current policy, and there was little to no change in the businesses beyond the ownership change.

“There wasn’t a lot of other meaningful change that happened from our observations,” Collie-Akers said. “They didn’t really change their logo, the store very much.”

The current regulations also do not limit the density of tobacco retailers or their proximity to schools and other youth-serving organizations, Collie-Akers said. Those issues, along with the ownership-change provision, are among the topics health officials hope to discuss with the Lawrence City Commission in October.

“Other communities have had a lot of success in stemming the tide of tobacco use by having more robust elements like limiting proximity to youth-serving organizations like schools, as well as limiting the density of tobacco retail within a particular community,” Collie-Akers said.

Collie-Akers said when the tobacco retail licensing policy was adopted nearly four years ago, it was an important advance for the community.

“It has given us as a community an opportunity to understand the retail landscape,” Collie-Akers said. “It has introduced those greater compliance checks, which are above and beyond what other communities have, and we think that’s really been important and should be maintained.”

“I think what we hope to evaluate is that the existing policy has some opportunities for strengthening it, and I think we hope to use the time on (Oct. 6), just note that there are a few … loopholes that could be resolved, and that other communities have had a lot of success in stemming the tide of tobacco use.”

The city told the Journal-World via email that this is an issue many community members care about, particularly following recent education and outreach efforts from public health professionals.

“For City staff, our role is clear: we work at the direction of the City Commission,” Cori Wallace, the city’s spokesperson, said in the email. “We’ll support that conversation in October and any direction the Commission provides from there.”

The City Commission is currently scheduled to hear a presentation from staff at LDCPH regarding tobacco retailers and the city’s policy on Oct. 6.