JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Partners in Prevention (PIP), in partnership with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), and Missouri Department of Public Safety’s Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, announces the launch of a free, online tobacco and nicotine retailer education training. Show Me – Education and Compliance Training for Tobacco and Nicotine Retailers is the first of its kind in Missouri.
This new training aims to help reduce youth and young adult access to tobacco and nicotine products by educating retailers on the importance of understanding federal, state and local tobacco laws and complying with these laws to ensure tobacco products are not sold to underage young people.
The most common age Missouri college students said they started using tobacco products was age 13 to 15 (MACHB, 2023). Nearly 1 in 3 (30%) Missouri high school students who smoked cigarettes said they bought them from a store or got someone to buy them, and nearly 1 in 4 (24%) who used e-cigarettes said they bought them from a store (YRBS, 2021). Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm brain development, which continues until the mid-twenties. While fewer young people are using conventional tobacco products, more are using e-cigarettes, which usually contain nicotine. Nearly 2 in 5 (40%) Missouri high school students had ever used an e-cigarette (YRBS, 2021), and there was a 90% increase in Missouri college students’ use of e-cigarettes from 2019 (10%) to 2023 (19%) (MACHB, 2023).
This online training highlights why the retail environment is an important place to help protect young people from addiction and disease while also providing additional insight on the various agencies responsible for the regulation and enforcement of tobacco and nicotine sales. Owners, managers and clerks of establishments that sell tobacco and nicotine products are highly encouraged to take this training, which takes about an hour to complete. Learners receive a certificate of completion upon completion.
DHSS Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Manager, Nicole Sinderman, shared about the importance of the training, “Nicotine and tobacco product retailer education is a key part of comprehensive youth and young adult tobacco use prevention. We hope the Show Me training helps retailers stay up to date with current laws and regulations. Retailers play an important role in protecting youth’s health and preventing lifelong addiction.”
The training was developed with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anyone can visit and register for the training at showmetobacco.education.
For more information about the training, contact Brittany Carpenter, Missouri Partners in Prevention at bcndf@missouri.edu.
About Partners in Prevention
Partners in Prevention is Missouri’s higher education substance misuse consortium dedicated to creating healthy and safe college campuses. The coalition is comprised of public and private college and university campuses across the state. Campus judicial officials, law enforcement and campus prevention professionals are encouraged to take part in both their local coalition efforts and the statewide Partners in Prevention Coalition. The composition brings together different perspectives on health promotion and prevention efforts. Since the beginning of the coalition in 2000, stakeholders have focused on preventing high-risk and underage drinking among Missouri’s college students and addressing other problematic health behaviors such as high-risk driving behaviors and problem gambling. In addition, the coalition provides support and services to campuses across the state to prevent suicide and support positive mental health among college students. Members of the Partners in Prevention Coalition meet monthly for training and network opportunities and host a statewide prevention conference each spring called Meeting of the Minds.