The California state Senate voted Thursday to raise the legal age to buy and use cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21 years old. The anti-smoking legislation had already been passed by the state Assembly and is now just the governor’s signature away from making California only the second state (along with Hawaii) to raise the age individuals can consume tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
Here’s more from the Associated Press:
The higher age limit, part of a package of anti-tobacco bills, won approval despite intense lobbying from tobacco interests and fierce opposition from many Republicans, who said the state should butt out of people’s personal health decisions, even if they are harmful… Opponents said American law and custom has long accepted that people can make adult decisions on their 18th birthday and live with the consequences. Eighteen-year-olds can register to vote, join the military, sign legally binding contracts, consent to sex and do just about any legal activity besides buying alcohol. In response, Democrats changed the bill to allow members of the military to continue buying cigarettes at 18.
The handful of bills would also expand smoking-restricted areas in the state and would impose similar restrictions on e-cigarettes as are currently applied to other tobacco products. “A vaping industry group, the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, urged Brown to veto the bill, saying in a letter that it could pose problems for vape shops,” according to the AP.
