Qinghai launches youth protection campaign targeting illegal cigarette and vape sales to minors
To protect the physical and mental health of minors and create a clean, healthy learning environment for children, tobacco monopoly authorities across Qinghai Province recently launched a campus outreach campaign titled “Protecting Growth, We’re With You,” combining legal education with a cleanup and enforcement drive against tobacco-related violations (including e-cigarettes) around schools.
During the campaign, the tobacco monopoly bureaus in Huangnan and Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefectures, together with public security and market regulation departments, carried out inspections, cleanup, and enforcement actions around schools. The focus was on checking for illegal sales of cigarettes and e-cigarettes to minors, whether “No sales of cigarettes (including e-cigarettes) to minors” signs were posted, and whether retailers were strictly complying with the requirement not to sell cigarettes or e-cigarettes to minors. Retailers and consumers were also encouraged to report illegal clues such as tobacco sales to minors, in order to fully safeguard a “smoke-free” and healthy environment for young people.
The tobacco monopoly bureaus in Xining and Haidong, as well as those in Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, made full use of existing joint coordination mechanisms and worked with public security, market regulation, and education departments. Through distributing promotional handbooks on the Law on the Protection of Minors, screening the “Protecting Growth” series of educational videos, and giving on-site talks about the dangers of e-cigarettes, they went deep into primary and secondary schools and nearby areas to promote laws and regulations such as the Law on the Protection of Minors, the Tobacco Monopoly Law, and the Administrative Measures for E-cigarettes. They also explained the harms of cigarette and e-cigarette use by minors, with special emphasis on the risks of non-compliant e-cigarette products such as “milk tea cups” and “cola cans,” which do not meet national standards.
The tobacco monopoly bureau in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, together with public security and other departments, also carried out nighttime enforcement operations targeting cigarettes and e-cigarettes, focusing on illegal acts such as selling tobacco products (including e-cigarettes) to minors and setting up e-cigarette retail outlets near schools. Special off-hours inspections were conducted at entertainment venues such as bars, KTVs, and internet cafes in the jurisdiction, with particular attention paid to shops near schools that sold cigarettes or e-cigarettes to minors or induced minors to purchase them.
