The Sooner State’s Success: Youth Tobacco Use Down, Retailer Compliance Up

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Key Points:

• Record Compliance: Oklahoma achieved its highest youth tobacco sales compliance rate in over a decade, according to the 2025 federal Synar Report, with 87.7 percent of businesses passing inspections – up from 79.8 percent in 2023.

• Oklahoma Legacy: The Synar Amendment, named after Oklahoma Congressman Mike Synar, requires states to prevent underage tobacco sales or risk losing federal block-grant funding. States must maintain violation rates below 20 percent – a threshold Oklahoma has consistently met and now far exceeds.

• Retailer Success: Between January 2024 and August 2025, the FDA conducted 2,117 compliance inspections in Oklahoma. Only 12.9 percent resulted in violations, meaning 87.1 percent of retailers were compliant. Most violations involved cigars (66 percent), not e-cigarettes, which accounted for only 15.3 percent.

• Youth Use Down: Cigarette smoking among Oklahoma high schoolers is at record lows – only 4.3 percent reported current use in 2023. Ever-smoking dropped to 24.5 percent, and youth vaping also fell sharply: current use dropped 21.6 percent between 2019 and 2023.

• Adult Trends: Adult smoking in Oklahoma remains 15.8 percent – higher than the national average – but adult vaping is rising, now at 11.3 percent, 38 percent higher than the national rate. Since 2016, adult vaping increased 68.7 percent, while smoking declined 19.4 percent.

• Young Adult Progress: Smoking among Oklahomans aged 18–24 has fallen 55.9 percent since 2016, from 21.1 percent to 9.3 percent, showing a strong generational shift toward smoke-free alternatives.

• Policy Implication: Oklahoma’s data prove that retail enforcement and education work – not bans or punitive laws. Policymakers should build on these successes, protect youth without restricting adult access to tobacco harm reduction products that help smokers quit.

• Bottom Line: Oklahoma’s experience shows that compliance is high, youth use is down, and harm reduction is working. Lawmakers should follow the evidence – not misinformation – when shaping future tobacco and nicotine policy.

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The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services recently announced that the Sooner State “has reached its highest compliance rate in more than a decade for preventing underage tobacco sales,” according to the latest federal Synar Report. This is welcome news at a time when policymakers continue to face widespread misinformation about tobacco harm reduction products – from e-cigarettes to nicotine pouches – often at the expense of adult consumers who rely on them. Despite alarmist rhetoric, youth use of these products continues to decline, and retailers in Oklahoma and across the country are doing a commendable job preventing underage sales.

The Synar Report traces back to 1992, when Congress enacted the Synar Amendment to curb underage tobacco sales. The law required states to “reduce the extent to which tobacco products are available to individuals under the age of 18” and to conduct unannounced compliance inspections using underage buyers. These inspection results are reported annually as part of the Synar program.

To ensure state participation, Congress tied compliance to federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grants distributed through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Synar Amendment authorizes DHHS to reduce a state’s block-grant funding if its violation rate exceeds federal thresholds. In 1996, DHHS established a target violation rate of no more than 20 percent, allowing states up to seven years to meet the standard.

Fittingly, the Synar Amendment’s name and legacy are rooted in Oklahoma – it was sponsored by former Congressman Mike Synar. In recent years, the state has made notable progress. In 2024, 86.4 percent of Oklahoma businesses were in compliance, a “significant improvement” from 79.8 percent in 2023. The 2025 Synar Report shows continued success, with a compliance rate of 87.7 percent – the highest since 2014.

Federal data echo these findings. Between January 2024 and August 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted 2,117 compliance inspections of tobacco and vape retailers in Oklahoma. Of these, only 274 (12.9 percent) resulted in underage sales – meaning 87.1 percent of retailers were compliant. Notably, cigars were the most frequently cited product, accounting for 66.1 percent (181 of 274) of all violations. E-cigarettes, which are often singled out in media coverage of youth nicotine use, represented only 15.3 percent of violations.

In addition to strong retailer compliance, youth tobacco and vaping rates in Oklahoma remain near record lows. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), in 2023 only 24.5 percent of high school students had ever tried combustible cigarettes, and just 4.3 percent reported current smoking – defined as smoking on at least one occasion in the past 30 days.

Youth vaping has also fallen sharply. In 2023, 46 percent of Oklahoma high school students reported ever using an e-cigarette, and 21.8 percent reported current use. Between 2019 and 2023, lifetime e-cigarette use fell by 20.3 percent, while current use declined by 21.6 percent.

These declines mirror national trends, as youth smoking and vaping continue to reach historic lows. Yet, Oklahoma’s adult smoking rate remains higher than average, underscoring the importance of maintaining access to harm-reduction products that help smokers quit. According to the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 15.8 percent of Oklahoma adults were current smokers in 2023 – 26.5 percent higher than the national rate of 12.1 percent.

Encouragingly, adult vaping is rising as smoking declines. In 2023, 11.3 percent of Oklahoma adults reported current e-cigarette use – 37.9 percent higher than the national average of 7.7 percent. Between 2016 and 2023, adult vaping increased by 68.7 percent, while smoking declined by 19.4 percent. Among adults aged 18–24, smoking fell dramatically – from 21.1 percent in 2016 to 9.3 percent in 2023 – a 55.9 percent reduction in just seven years.

The latest Synar Report findings are a clear sign of progress. Retailers are doing their part to prevent underage tobacco sales, youth smoking and vaping continue to decline, and adults are increasingly turning to safer alternatives to quit smoking and stay smoke-free. Policymakers should recognize these successes and be cautious of reactionary policies that restrict adult access to harm-reduction products. Ignoring this data would be a disservice to both public health and common sense.

Nothing in this analysis is intended to influence the passage of legislation, and it does not necessarily represent the views of Tobacco Harm Reduction 101.