3 min read
An Evaluation Framework: How Should We Judge Whether a Nicotine Policy Succeeded?
Nicotine policies are rarely evaluated—and when they are, the evaluation criteria are contested. A proper evaluation framework would include: smoking prevalence, health outcomes, equity effects, unintended consequences, and consumer acceptance.
Did the flavor ban reduce youth vaping? That's one question. Did it increase adult smoking? That's another. Did it widen or narrow health disparities? A third. Was it accepted by the affected populations? A fourth. **Most nicotine policy evaluations answer only the first question—the one the policy was designed to address. A proper evaluation framework would require regulators to measure all the consequences, intended and unintended, and to report them publicly. The framework doesn't exist.**
