California lawmakers vote to raise smoking, vaping age to 21 - CBS 8 San Diego

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers voted Thursday to raise the legal age for purchasing and using tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21, putting the nation's most populous state on the brink of becoming only the second after Hawaii to bar teenagers from lighting up, dipping or vaping.

Before it can become law, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown must sign the legislation, which has already passed the state Assembly. His spokesman said the governor generally does not comment on pending legislation.

Only Hawaii has adopted the higher age limit statewide, although dozens of cities, including New York and San Francisco, have passed similar laws of their own.

"We can prevent countless California youth from becoming addicted to this deadly drug, save billions of dollars in direct health care costs and, most importantly, save lives," said Democratic Sen. Ed Hernandez, who wrote the bill.

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.

The six bills that passed both houses represented California's most substantial anti-tobacco effort in nearly two decades, according to the American Cancer Society.

"With California having such a huge population, it's going to be very impactful nationwide," said Cathy Callaway, associate director of state and local campaigns for the society.

Advocates noted that the vast majority of smokers start before they are 18, according to data from the U.S. surgeon general. Making it illegal for 18-year-old high school students to buy tobacco for their underage friends will make it more difficult for teens to get the products, they said.

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.

"You can commit a felony when you're 18 years old and for the rest of your life, be in prison," Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes said. "And yet you can't buy a pack of cigarettes."

Another bill would classify e-cigarettes, or "vaping" devices, as tobacco products subject to the same restrictions on who can purchase them and where they can be used.

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed regulations for e-cigarettes, but none has taken effect.

Anti-tobacco groups fear that vaporizers are enticing to young people and may encourage them to eventually take up smoking.

"All the progress we've made since 1965 to educate people about the hazards of smoking may be for naught as vaping has started a new generation of nicotine junkies that will be helplessly addicted and will ultimately graduate to smoking cancer sticks," said Sen. Jeff Stone, a Republican.

Others say the devices are a less harmful, tar-free alternative to cigarettes. They have not been extensively studied, and there is no scientific consensus on their risks.

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.

"The stigma of being equated with tobacco has many negative consequences," the group wrote.

The bills would also expand smoke-free areas to include bars, workplace break rooms, small businesses, warehouses and hotel lobbies and meeting rooms. Smoking bans would apply at more schools, including charter schools, and counties would be able to raise their own cigarette taxes beyond the state's levy of $0.87 per pack.

The legislation would take effect 90 days after the governor signs it.

The Senate vote came just over a week after San Francisco officials opted to raise the tobacco buying age to 21, making it the largest city to do so after New York. Nationwide, more than 120 municipalities have raised the smoking age, according to Tobacco 21, a group that advocates the policy shift nationally.

Hawaii was first to adopt the higher age limit statewide. New Jersey's Legislature voted to raise the smoking age from 19 to 21, but the bill died when Republican Gov. Chris Christie decided not to act on it before a January deadline.

Anti-smoking groups are collecting signatures for a November ballot initiative that would raise the cigarette tax to $2 a pack and direct the money to health care, tobacco-use prevention, research and law enforcement.

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This story has been corrected to show that the name of Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes was misspelled Hayes.



Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

"You can commit a felony when you're 18 years old and for the rest of your life, be in prison," Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes said. "And yet you can't buy a pack of cigarettes."

Yep, that's kind of funny about the whole age increase thing. Btw, you can even commit that aggravated felony at the age of, let's say, 15, and spend the remainder of life in prison. There were some cases. Those people were school shooters who opted not to kill themselves.

 

I'm not entirely opposed to this, I certainly think 16 is too young, maybe 21 is a bit old, but then the older you start smoking/vaping the better. Chance of nicotine addition is reduced the older you start too.

 

To be honest what do these age restrictions mean anyway? If people want to smoke or vape no matter what age they are then they will do. All they're doing is driving vaping underground as the people who vape now who are 16/17/18, aren't going to turn around now and stop because they're not old enough all of a sudden.

 

Sure, no one will restrain from/quit anything for that reason. Especially those you are already in the business.

 

You'd also have thought that if the government's are supposedly so concerned with peoples health, especially when it comes to cigarettes then they would have introduced lower age restrictions on vaping.

I know there isn't any rock solid evidence that vaping helps people quit or cut back on the cigarettes, I think it's pretty much common knowledge now that it does.

 

Im fairly sure that making it illegal for children to buy cigarettes has never stopped them smoking in any country on the planet, in fact, making it illegal will only make it cooler for a lot of young people. I'm sure theres lobbying from the tobacco industry here who would love to see all vaping made illegal so that they can continue their monopoly on the tobacco supply.

 

I was thinking along the same lines as your Mr. Dawson.
America is an interesting place that's for sure.
21 to drink and now to smoke. 18 was a little low for smoking, 19 seems to be a good age.
I think if you are old enough to join the military and old enough to be in university then you are certainly old enough to make these choices.

 

Absolutely Rob, I couldn't agree more. Its not as if all those 18-20 years old are suddenly going to forget about smoking just because its illegal now. In the UK the legal age to smoke is 16, but a few years back they raised the age for people to be able to buy tobacco and associated products to 18, all that did was create a black market where older teenagers buy smoking materials and sell them to the younger ones. Whenever I pop down to my local store in the evening theres always a group of lads, aged about 14-16 hanging around outside asking passing people if they will buy tobacco for them. I'm all in favour of laws that protect children but it would be nice to see a bit of common sense and forward thinking from lawmakers once in a while.

 

If I recall myself at that age, I can't see much difference between me at 18 and me at 19. It's just another period of 360+ days. Not that much to form a huge gap.

 

Correct on all front. If you can sign your life away to the military and be ordered to shoot someone then I think they should have the right to smoke anywhere they want.

 

Going back to the point about the UK having the legal smoking age set at 16, there was a law recently came in that banned people from smoking in cars that were carrying a minor.

Under UK law, anyone under 18 is classed as a minor, but you can learn to start driving at 17. In theory then, your not allowed to smoke in your own car at 17, because that car contains a minor (you) but you can stand outside on the pavement and smoke because your over 16...something is a bit messed up here?

 

I think the law applies to passengers in your car who are minors. Theoretically if you were 17, got a car and went for a ride with a friend who was older than you, but still under 18, then you would be breaking the law if you smoked with them in the car, although they would be allowed to smoke in the car and you would be allowed to smoke in the car as long as they weren't in the car with you. Absolutely bonkers as far as I can see it, the lunatics are running the asylum.

 

You can see where I'm coming from though in regards to this? I mean, I've no issue with the rules and regulations and even before I started vaping and I was smoking 20+ cigarettes a day I was quite happy when the no smoking in pubs and restaurants came in, but I think some of these laws do need looking at.