The flavoring, packaging, pricing, and marketing of ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverages are especially appealing to young people and can lead to risky drinking behaviors. These RTD beverages are often inexpensive, high in alcohol by volume (ABV), and sold in large single containers. In addition, these products [More]
Derived Psychoactive Cannabis Products (DPCPs) refer to a wide range of products with psychoactive properties similar to cannabis that are chemically created, rather than grown. Despite the public health risks, many states have only recently begun efforts to regulate the sale of the DPCPs that have [More]
Researchers continue to uncover how health behaviors– like diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use– can be risk factors for certain cancers. In fact, one recent study estimates nearly half of all cancer deaths are associated with these potentially modifiable risk factors. The American Cancer [More]
Counter Tools joins Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and 206 other signatories from 61 countries in calling on the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to maintain and strengthen its call to country Parties in the Draft General Recommendation [More]
If you’ve visited a convenience store lately, you’ve likely seen advertisements for nicotine pouches like Zyn, On!, Rogue or Velo. These ‘modern’ oral nicotine products have seen massive increases in sales over the last several years. What do we know about these products and who’s using [More]
The alcohol industry is quite transparent in their goals to recruit new drinkers, including women, Hispanic consumers and “beer rejectors”. One strategy that has seen growing success over the course of the last 20 years is offering new products that are sweeter and easier to drink than [More]
Join Counter Tools for our upcoming Healthy POS Webinar titled "Better Conversations about Health Equity and Tobacco POS Strategies." In this webinar, Dr. Julie Sweetland (FrameWorks Institute) will help attendees understand effective ways to message about health equity from a tobacco perspective, and best practices to [More]
Dear Senator or Representative: We write to express our strong support for proposed rules that the Food and Drug Administration has issued to prohibit the manufacture and sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. FDA’s proposals will substantially improve public health by reducing youth tobacco use, [More]
It’s easy to find data on all sorts of consumer trends in alcoholic beverages, from insights on how the pandemic impacted sales to what products are gaining popularity, often with breakdowns by age, gender, and other demographic information. One data point you won’t see represented in [More]
Marketing and promotions for alcohol and tobacco products saturate retail stores in most communities—the same places where you buy milk, snacks, and medicine. Research has shown that exposure to advertising and promotions for these products have a number of negative health impacts, such as prompting youth [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
Colleges and universities across the country have had success in using policy to protect students from exposure to secondhand smoke on campus. However, these policies do not address the tobacco retail environment immediately off-campus. Considering the off-campus retail environment in tobacco control efforts can be the perfect [More]
The Covid-19 pandemic caused businesses across the world to think critically about their spending. While many industries saw major cuts to their budgets in 2020, interestingly, recent data from the Federal Trade Commission report reveals that advertising and promotion of cigarettes increased from $7.62 billion in [More]
The majority of Americans live in a state where cannabis is legal and marijuana has been decriminalized, while a growing number of states have legalized recreational marijuana. Here are a few lessons we can learn from past tobacco control challenges and successes to build a more [More]
GHEA partnered with Counter Tools to present “Cancer, Obesity and Place” on Friday, June 25, from 1-2 pm EDT. Research has clearly shown that obesity is a risk factor for a wide variety of negative health outcomes, including several types of cancer. It is no coincidence [More]
Many states deemed liquor stores "essential" businesses during the pandemic lockdowns and were allowed to remain open. Other changes such as to-go alcoholic beverages and curbside pick-up helped contribute to a significant spike in off-premise alcohol sales. While these changes may be seen as wins for [More]
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Photo credit Sarah Daniels/Innovate Carolina.
