By Kimberly Mann Bruch

University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) researchers recently conducted a study to better understand if retailers are following San Diego’s e-commerce laws regarding age verification, shipping method and flavor restrictions. As part of the study, researchers went online and ordered flavored vape products from 78 different retailers; 58 retailers shipped the products – despite the prohibition of flavored vaping products in San Diego. Additionally, more than 80 percent of the orders were mailed via U.S. Postal Service – even though there is also a law banning this.

Assistant Professor Eric Leas of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and Associate Teaching Professor Shannon Ellis of the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI)  – part of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences- led a team that published the work in the Journal of the American Medical Association – commonly known as JAMA. 

“Among the 105 completed deliveries, only one actually had the buyer’s ID scanned when the vapes were delivered – also required by law,” Ellis said.

More recently, the team did a followup study focusing on tax compliance, published in Tobacco Control. 

“In this Tobacco Control piece, we discussed how easy it is to not only go online and purchase flavored vapes, but also that required taxes are rarely charged to the consumer,” Leas said. “We speculate that it is very difficult for law enforcement to ensure compliance as the landscape for vaping retailers is very transient.” 

To help support enforcement efforts, UC San Diego Computational Social Sciences Masters students Prosperity Land, Nina Rice and Jenna Brooks developed a Tobacco Map Dashboard displaying the retailers from these studies. 

Leas and Ellis said that their current study with the Tobacco E-Commerce Lab is taking a look at retailer noncompliance surrounding tobacco e-commerce across the entire state of California, rather than focusing solely on San Diego. 

“With an understanding of the state-wide landscape, we can more effectively develop a comprehensive e-commerce surveillance strategy, ultimately preventing youth access to tobacco and curtailing losses of tax revenue for public health interventions,” Ellis said.

The work was funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (grant nos. T32IP4864 and T34IR7999 ).