Success story: Kansas high schoolers participate in summer project to learn about the tobacco retail environment
From September 2021 to August 2022, Counter Tools supported the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to address two of their identified priority areas: preventing the initiation of tobacco use among youth and young adults, and addressing tobacco-related health inequities. This included point-of-sale training for KDHE’s [More]
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Client-Partner Feedback Survey
Our mission at Counter Tools is to empower communities to become healthier places for all. We are asking for feedback from our client-partners on ways we can, in service to our mission, better support statewide and local-level goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The survey results [More]
CDC releases new mapping techniques best practice supplement
Maps are a valuable tool for understanding community trends, visualizing disparities, identifying gaps in program and policy implementation, educating decision makers, and evaluating interventions. In expanding upon the evidence-based recommendations in the CDC’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs–2014, the Center for Public Health Systems Science [More]
Webinar – Assessing and Engaging the Tobacco Retailer Environment
On November 15th at 3:00PM EST, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) will conduct a webinar in partnership with Counter Tools on assessing and engaging with the tobacco retailer environment at the state and local level. According to the CDC, there are over 375,000 [More]
Call to action on home delivery of alcohol by USPS
Counter Tools joins the American Public Health Association’s Alcohol Action Network in urging congressional action on home delivery of alcohol by the US Postal Service. By law, the US Postal Service is prohibited from shipping alcohol under U.S. Legal Code 18 § 1716. But a new bill [More]
The benefits of mapping alcohol outlets
Mapping is a public health tool that has been used for centuries to find patterns, tell stories, and support policies. In 1854, mapping the location of cholera deaths allowed John Snow to identify a pattern and ultimately determine the source of the outbreak. While our technology has [More]
Point of sale tobacco marketing photo contest launches October 11
We are excited to announce the dates for CounterTobacco.org's 11th Annual Photo Contest! Each year we host this contest to showcase what's happening in the tobacco retail environment all across the country. These images are crucial to educating the public and furthering the success of state and local [More]
Healthy Active Communities Virtual Conference Sept 14-15
Counter Tools staff will be presenting at the Healthy Active Communities Conference September 14-15. HACC will be a place to learn about policies & systems changes related to health equity & nutrition security with a weight-inclusive lens. Healthy Active Communities sets out to explore and expand conversations [More]
Webinar – Innovative Local Solutions in Public Health
We recently hosted a webinar with CADCA GHEA about local-level policy solutions in Maryland and California. These efforts advanced policies relating to alcohol and healthy food. We often see innovative policy solutions tested first at the local-level. In this webinar, you’ll learn about alcoholic beverage regulations in [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast : Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption (Episode 30)
Earlier this year, along with our partners at ChangeLab Solutions, we published a resource on this topic called the Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook. It equips tobacco prevention staff and their partners with the knowledge, context, and resources needed to understand how preemption influences their work. [More]
Creating tobacco control policies that work toward health equity
Tobacco control policies must be formulated and examined with health equity at the forefront to directly address health inequities among Black Americans and other marginalized communities. Even the best intentioned tobacco product regulation policies may reinforce racism and the inequitable impact on marginalized communities. We must create [More]
Webinar – Using Local Momentum to Drive State and Federal Policy Change
This webinar featured leaders from the Tobacco 21 and smokefree air movements to discuss how tobacco control policy strategies at the local level helped drive policy change across the country. Assessing local policy change through case studies helps identify lessons learned and keys to success, which can [More]
Webinar – Building the rationale for local policy change
We recently hosted a webinar with CADCA GHEA about why local-level policy efforts matter for for public health and shared strategies that have proven successful for local policy implementation. Local governments are on the front lines of adopting laws and policies that have the potential to improve [More]
An update to the Counter Tools mission
We recently updated our mission statement to the following: We empower communities to become healthier places for all. Our mission for the past ten years has guided us to support our partners as they work to improve the health of their communities. We know that the places [More]
Letter opposing extension of menthol cigarette comment period
Dear Dr. Califf: The undersigned organizations write today to strongly oppose any extension of the comment period for the proposed rule removing menthol as a characterizing flavor. We note that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received several requests for an extension of the comment period [More]
Letter opposing extension of cigar comment period
Dear Dr. Califf: Today, we write in response to several requests the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received to extend the public comment period for the proposed rule to remove all characterizing flavors, except for tobacco, from cigars. We strongly oppose any extension of the comment period, [More]
3 lessons from tobacco control that can be used in cannabis regulations
With adult use cannabis now legalized in 18 states and counting, it seems pretty clear that recreational cannabis will soon be available in more retail spaces across the country, whether public health is ready for it or not. As the cannabis industry begins to implement many of [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast: Tobacco-Related Assurances of Voluntary Compliance (Episode 29)
In this episode, we provide a primer on tobacco-related Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC), which are legally binding and enforceable agreements between companies (i.e. big tobacco retailers) and one or more states (under each state attorneys general) in which the retailer agrees to adhere to certain standards [More]
Letter to FDA on Rules to Prohibit Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars
Dear Dr. Califf: The undersigned public health, medical, education and community organizations write to express our support for the Food and Drug Administration’s commitment to issuing proposed rules this Spring to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors in cigars. Once [More]
Protecting Local Authority to Adopt Local Solutions
Laws and policies adopted at the local level are tailored to their communities, improving health outcomes and reducing inequities. Local laws also complement state or federal policies and provide greater coverage for enforcement inspections of retailers. Preemption laws from a higher level of government can create challenges for [More]
