Note: As of October 1st, CounterTobacco.orgofficially became a project of Counter Tools, rather than being housed at UNC Chapel Hill as a separate sibling organization. The project is supported by the Grant or Cooperative Agreement Number 6NU38OT000141-04-01 awarded to ChangeLab Solutions and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This transition is structural in nature and does not change the mission or activities of either organization. CounterTobacco.org will continue to serve as your online resource for all things related to point-of-sale, or retail focused, tobacco control interventions. Counter Tools will continue to provide technology tools, training, and technical assistance to advance place-based public health across multiple determinants of health outcomes.
Leadership of both organizations will be nearly the same. While Jessica Eaddy has moved on from her role as Project Director, Mollie Mayfield has remained with the project and is now serving as the Managing Editor for CounterTobacco.org. Co-Founders Kurt Ribisl and Allison Myers are always involved as advisors. Learn more about us here.
What does the evidence say? CounterTobacco.org offers Evidence Summaries, a series of reports on topics such as the current status of the US retail environment for tobacco, how to rebut economic arguments against POS policies, and where kids today see tobacco advertising to help inform media and awareness campaigns as well as inform work to counter tobacco marketing and sales in your community.
This paper describes how STARS was developed and how it has been used to date. At the time of the study, 34 states had used or planned to use STARS, and all STARS measures were found to have high or moderate reliability. The paper also provides examples of how states have used STARS to inform policy change.
Researchers project that minimum price laws (MPLSs) with floor prices set at or above the average state price would raise prices by $0.33 and could reduce disparities in the prices that low-income smokers pay for cigarettes compared to high-income smokers to a greater degree than comparable excise taxes. Researchers also project that MPLs set at this level would also reduce cigarette consumption by 4%, while an excise tax that sets price at the same level would reduce consumption by only 2.3%. Following the same model, MPLs that raise prices by more than $2.00 would reduce consumption by 15.9%, while a tax with a similar price effect would reduce consumption by only 13.5%.
A longitudinal survey of state tobacco control programs’ retail (point of sale) policy activity revealed that point of sale policy activity doubled between 2012 and 2014. Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, Maine, and West Virginia had the largest increases in activity. The study also suggests that state and local tobacco control programs need increased capacity in order to promote evidence-based policies.
The latest and greatest from our Media Gallery An "e-vaping" kiosk right in the middle of the snack aisle.
Captured by our co-founder Kurt Ribisl in Asheville, NC on July 25, 2016 View all media gallery images
What does the evidence say? CounterTobacco.org offers 
