Resources:
Webinar Slides
Youth Purchase, Use, or Possession (PUP): Commercial Tobacco Laws and Penalties
Minnesota Commercial Tobacco Point-of-Sale Toolkit: Youth Purchase, Use, or Possession (PUP)

Youth Purchase, Use, or Possession (PUP) commercial tobacco laws seek to punish minors for using tobacco products with the idea that penalties will serve as deterrence to youth tobacco use. This punitive approach fails to account for the reality that the tobacco industry deliberately designs tobacco products to be highly addictive and heavily markets them to teens through various media. Instead, PUP laws tend to undermine more effective prevention strategies, exacerbate addiction challenges, exonerate predatory industry practices, and disproportionately harm industry-targeted youth.
 
During this 45-minute webinar, Public Health Law Center staff attorney Carolina Saavedra discusses the harmful and counterproductive impact of Youth Purchase, Use, or Possession (PUP) laws and describe more effective prevention policies that focus on reducing tobacco use and curbing initiation through retail safeguards, tobacco education, and cessation support. 

Presenter:
Carolina Saavedra, Staff Attorney, Public Health Law Center

*CLE credit is in the process of approval for this webinar.