(Newswire.net — May 24, 2016) — A little more than two months after the City of San Francisco enacted legislation to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21, that State of California has followed suit. As reported by multiple news and media outlets, the new legislation impacts not only cigarettes, but a wide variety of tobacco products and e-cigarettes.
The new law is slated to go into effect on June 9th of this year. 18 to 20 year-olds in California have taken notice.
Senator Ed Hernandez gave the following statement on the projected benefits of the new state law:
“These laws will save countless lives, reduce astronomical costs to the health care system, and cost very little because it uses existing enforcement mechanisms. Today was an enormous victory for not only this generation, but also for many generations to come who will not suffer the deadly impacts of tobacco.”
The inclusion of e-cigarettes in the new laws, placing them alongside cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, or any other products prepared from tobacco, comes with some controversy as organizations such as the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association strongly objected to the classification. In a prepared statement released to the media, the association stated:
“California took a step backwards today by reclassifying vapor products as tobacco. Our industry, which was built by former smokers that morphed into small and mid-sized businesses, has always supported sensible legislation, such as prohibitions on selling to minors, reasonable licensing requirements and child-resistant packaging.”
E-cigarettes and “vaping” have become a hot-button issue in the last few years, as their popularity has skyrocketed while cigarette use has continued a sharp decline. Proponents of e-cigarettes highlight the products as a good means of quitting smoking, and as a much healthier alternative to traditional tobacco products.
However, opponents of the devices counter that e-cigarettes and vaping products are a so-called “gateway” to traditional smoking, and point to alarming high usage rates among middle schoolers and teens. According to the FDA, “more than 3 million middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2015, up from an estimated 2.46 million in 2014.”
Based on the volume of posts on social media about kids at school vaping in bathrooms, in parking lots, and even in class, perhaps it’s fair to be concerned about this “healthy alternative.”
Also of interest in the fine print of the legislation raising the age to buy tobacco products in California to 21 is the exception for members of the military. According to reports, opponents to the initial language of the California smoking law, including veteran’s organizations and several Republican lawmakers, argued that men and women willing to fight for our country should be able to make the decision to use tobacco.
Having lost multiple relatives to lung cancer, though I personally abhor smoking, I do agree that if an eighteen-year-old is willing to get marched off to Hallelujah, Kandahar, or some other god-forsaken place to risk their life for our country, then they ought to be able to smoke if they choose to do so. However, others are none too pleased with the exemption, suggesting that the exemption trivializes the lives of military members.
Ultimately, it’s hard to argue against this new California legislation given the potential impact. An article in the L.A. Times cited a 2015 Institute of Medicine study that “estimated that increasing the tobacco purchase age to 21 will result in 200,000 fewer premature deaths for those born between 2000 and 2019.” Beyond the sheer numbers of lives potentially saved, the benefits to the health care system and the economy as a whole would be significant as well.