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In the US, e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among teenagers and between 2017 and 2018, youth current e-cigarette use was increased by 78% and 48% respectively among high school and middle school students (1). A recent review of evidence by the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) identified that e-cigarette use results in dependence on e-cigarettes, increases risk of subsequent cigarette smoking initiation as well as increased frequency and intensity of smoking among youth and young adults (2). In addition to producing several toxic chemicals in aerosol (formaldehyde, acrolein), e-cigarettes often contain nicotine which is a highly addictive substance (2). Children and youths can develop nicotine dependence with lower level of exposure than adults which may affect their brain development, memory, and concentration (3,4). Irrespective of the possible benefits of e-cigarettes for helping adult smokers to quit, there is consensus that youth should not be buying or using these products. In order to investigate the youth access to e-cigarettes and extent of retail tobacco marketing, Lisa Henriksen and her team conducted a study in the convenience stores of California (5). In California, some stores have signed an Assurance of Voluntary Compliances (AVCs) which are legally binding agreements between state attorneys general and retail chains. The authors have divided the sample into two groups: corporate-owned stores (signed AVCs) and franchise-owned stores (did not sign AVCs). They then used underage decoys and professional auditors to measure and compare retail violation rates (RVRs) of requesting IDs, selling e-cigarette illegally and advertisement of tobacco and vaping products between these 2 groups. The results of the study revealed that violation of ID requests, age-ofsale signage regulations and selling e-cigarettes illegally to underage decoys were higher among corporate-owned stores than franchise stores. In contrast, violations of interior content-limited advertising regulations for tobacco products were more common in corporate stores. However, it is noteworthy that a huge percentage, 53.1% and 76.7% of convenience stores respectively violated the age-ofsale signage and content-limited advertising regulations, irrespective of their AVC category. Furthermore, 16.8% of stores were located near at least one K-12 school and significant proportion of these stores violated both exterior advertising regulations and sales prohibition to underage clients. The authors suggested that AVCs could reduce youth access to e-cigarettes and further suggested to expand AVCs to other types of retail stores like supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, dollar stores and smoke or vape stores. They have also recommended that greater investments in merchant education and routine enforcement are needed to limit retail tobacco and e-cigarette marketing, which is a risk factor for tobacco initiation among adolescents and youths (5). Henriksen and colleagues’ paper provides an important contribution to the existing literature regarding reducing youth access to e-cigarettes and exposure to tobacco marketing. However, voluntary compliance mechanisms Editorial Commentary

A single system of retail sale is not working