Evaluating a novel policy to increase access to nicotine replacement therapy in community retailers

ABSTRACT There is a strong rationale to prioritize tobacco control policy interventions in communities at high risk for tobacco product exposure, lower access to pharmacies, and associated health disparities. Policy efforts to increase access to NRT by requiring its sale and signage in community retailers could address multiple threats

to public health. To date, there have been limited efforts to increase NRT availability in the tobacco retail environment. Growing out of the recognition that convenience stores sell most tobacco products but little NRT, in 2022 NJ became the first U.S. state to require tobacco retailers to sell NRT. While a law requiring NRT at

the point of sale holds promise to further reduce tobacco use, the extent to which this new law could have a positive equity impact is unknown. This exploratory R21 project uses a mixed methods approach to understand the implementation and short-term impact of a new statewide NRT law, seeking to expand the

evidence base with a focus on racial/ethnic groups in the context of a diverse tobacco environment. Specifically, we will: 1) determine whether NRT compliance varies by neighborhood characteristics using store audits and conducting spatial analyses to examine associations between compliance and neighborhood

demographics and tobacco retailer density, and 2) explore short-term indicators of the NRT law’s impact by examining trends in NRT product sales and NJ Quitline calls between 2021 and 2023. The relevance of the proposed research to public health is its ability to improve existing and future NRT policies in ways that could

promote health equity and reduce tobacco-related disparities.