Minimum Legal Sales Age for e-Cigarettes: a Qualitative Study on the Implementation of Model Policy Components

Insights from the state MLSA implementation experiences should inform advocates, bureaucrats, and elected officials about potential solutions to implementation barriers for e-cigarette MLSA. Findings highlight implementation facilitators and identify existing model policy components that may be improved in future guidance. Key elements for revising state policies and/or the model include shifting penalties from clerks to retailers, setting a minimum number of compliance checks, coordinating compliance programs, reconsidering criminal penalty structures, regulating online sales, preventing illegitimate license transfers, establishing complaint-driven enforcement, and requiring the inclusion of e-cigarette products in a minimum percentage of decoy buys.