Signed into Law: Americans Must be 21 to Purchase Tobacco Products
President Trump on Friday signed a $1.4 trillion spending deal that includes a major change for American society: you must be 21 or older to purchase tobacco products.
The new rule, which changes the minimum age set in the 1990’s, will take effect next summer. As of this month, 19 states and more than 500 cities had already raised the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21.
“We have to take care of our kids…so we’re going to have an age limit of 21 or so, so we’ll be coming out with something next week very important on vaping,” said President Trump last month.
The controversial decision to increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco products is largely a response to the widespread use of e-cigarettes among teens and “vape lung,” a sometimes-fatal respiratory condition linked to vaping and THC.
According to the HHS, nearly 28% of high school students in the US have used e-cigarettes within the past month.
The age increase “is the most significant step that can be taken to reduce youth access and use,” said The Vapor Technology Association.
For years, lawmakers like Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Brian Schultz (D-HI) have been looking for a way to increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco products. They did so by attaching the prohibition to a must-pass spending package that keeps the government up and running through September 2020.
The bipartisan deal also includes:
- 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees
- A pay raise for troops
- $25 million for gun violence research
- $1.4 billion for border security
- Authorization to sanction Syria, Iran, and Russia for war crimes in Syria
- Guaranteed pension and healthcare for coal miners
- Elimination of “Cadillac taxes” on employer-provided healthcare plans
- Creation of “Space Force”
Lawmakers and advocates also pushed for a federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes, but were unsuccessful in convincing President Trump to support that action.
“Raising the tobacco age to 21 is a positive step, but it is not a substitute for prohibiting the flavored e-cigarettes that are luring and addicting our kids,” argues Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“To reverse the e-cigarette epidemic, policymakers must prohibit flavored e-cigarettes and cannot be limited by what the tobacco industry says is acceptable…The evidence is clear that flavored e-cigarettes are driving the youth epidemic. Most youth e-cigarette users use flavored products and cite flavors as a key reason for their use. As long as flavored e-cigarettes remain available, kids will find ways to get them and this epidemic will continue.”
Children or kids under 21 should not vote, should not drink, and should not vote. Their minds are not fully developed under the age of 21 and they make stupid irrational decisions without knowing the ramifications. They do this time and time again proving the point.
Woops, first sentence, “should not smoke or vape,”
BIG WHOOPS, YOU ARE A LEGAL ADULT AT AGE 18 SO THIS CAN NOT BE DONE AND WILL NOT WORK!!!
I think everyone knows that tobacco products are not good for your health. BUT this is a wrong move. A three time combat vet here I will tell you that if you want to protect the younger generation then don’t send the youngsters into combat until they reach the age of 21. If they are old enough to fight for this nation they are old enough to decide whether they should smoke or drink a beer.
The legal age should be moved to 21, can’t vote, go to combat, smoke or drink until then.
Just to have members of the military do nothing for the first three years of an enlistment. Go right ahead and preach that all day long.
Don’t be surprised if this finds its way to the Supreme Court on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. How can you legally conscript (draft) an 18 year-old who is also entitled under the Constitution to vote? It is clearly discriminatory.
It seems to me that young persons that have grown up with a phone in their pocket starting at ten years of age or less, develop different priority structures than previous generations. Now that the telephone has changed from a long distance walkie-talkie to the Library of Congress in your pocket, the value of brain-memory-based knowledge is diminished.
There are a lot of cultural influences today that we, as a species, have no prior equivalent to measure against. You can ask Google what Kim Kardashian’s bra cup size is and get 6,000 references in under 1 second. We are drowning in useless information.
This may be a reason to raise the age at which society can expect maturity to be the norm.
I wish I had the answers, but I do not. If there is an overall cause, it might be the incredible pace of change.