Local high school students urge council to back retail licensing and repeal tobacco preemption

Two Muskogee High School students presented on Aug. 11 about a CounterACT Tobacco campaign intended to strengthen retail licensing for tobacco and nicotine products and to remove statutory preemption that blocks local tobacco restrictions. Zaria Gordon and Jason Craft, leaders in the Youth Action for Healthy Leadership (YAHS) program funded by the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), described the group’s goal of statewide comprehensive tobacco retail licensing. They said licensing would make compliance checks easier and reduce youth access to vaping products and e-cigarettes. The students said use of vaping and nicotine products among youth remains high in Oklahoma: they cited a 2021 figure that 21.7% of Oklahoma high school students reported using vapor products and a 2023 federal compliance-check violation rate in Oklahoma of 20.2% for retailers selling to minors. The presenters said Oklahoma currently has no statewide licensing for retailers of these products, which they said makes it easier for retailers to sell to underage buyers. The group asked council members to consider signing local-elected-official support cards and to support efforts to remove preemption so municipalities can adopt stricter retail-licensing rules. The students said their local YAHS chapter conducts education and advocacy in schools and communities and that an on-call campaign manager (Alex) can answer technical questions. No formal city action was taken; students asked for expressions of support and asked the council to sign support cards being circulated at the meeting.