1. The Effects of Public Policy on Adolescent Cigar Use Jeanne S. Ringel Jeffrey Wasserman Tatiana Andreyeva We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the American Legacy Foundation

2. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Reducing Tobacco Use Among Youth is an Important Public Policy Goal Research and policy tend to focus on cigarette use Prevalence of other tobacco product use is not trivial (1999-2000) – 16% of high school and 6% of middle school students report current use of cigars –42% of high school and 15% of middle school students report lifetime use

3. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Adolescent Cigar Use is a Problem Negative health consequences –Increased risk of various types of cancers (e.g., lip, throat, lung, and pancreas) –Increased risk of coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

4. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Can Public Policy Affect Adolescent Cigar Use? Not clear from previous research –Most research on the effects of prices and policy on cigarette use This study looks at the impact of prices and state-level tobacco regulations on cigar demand

5. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Data Sources National Youth Tobacco Survey –1999 and 2000 waves –Nationally representative cross-sectional sample of students in grades 6 to 12 –Approximately 15,000 students in 1999 and 35,000 in 2000 Scanner price data from AC Nielsen State-level policy data from CDC’s STATE system

6. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Empirical Methods Logistic regression model of probability of reporting current use of cigars –Current use defined as use in the past 30 days –Explanatory variables: Age, race/ethnicity, gender, indicator for survey wave, state tobacco control policies, price of cigars, price of cigarettes, and price of smokeless tobacco –Run separately for males and females

7. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Current Cigar Use is Highest Among Males Prevalence of current cigar use

8. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Increasing Cigar Prices Reduces Use Marginal effects of price and regulation variables

9. Ringel, Wasserman, and Andreyeva 12/03 Conclusions State-level tobacco control regulations have little effect Youth are sensitive to cigar prices –Indicates that cigar taxes are an important policy tool –Increasing federal tax rate on cigars to the same level as that on cigarettes would reduce youth cigar prevalence by 5%