With the age of 18 comes the right to vote, the ability to go to
war and the chance to run for certain public offices. But if
California
lawmakers have their way, it will not include the ability to
purchase tobacco.
The California State Senate is considering a bill that would
make the state the first in the nation to require tobacco buyers to
be at least 21 years old.
The bill, SB 1821, cleared its first legislative hurdle last
month after being approved by the Senate Health and Human Services
committee by a 7-2 vote.
“The tobacco industry has a remarkable 24 percent
addiction rate among 18 to 20-year-olds, and they know that they
must addict people before the age of 21,” Sen. Joseph Dunn,
D-Santa Ana, a longtime anti-tobacco advocate and co-author of the
measure, said in a statement.
“According to a United States Surgeon General’s
report, smokers usually have sampled cigarettes at the median age
of 14 but did not begin to smoke daily until the age of 18, and a
miniscule percentage began smoking after the age of 21,” the
statement read. “The Surgeon General also reports that
“˜most people who are going to smoke are hooked by the time
they are 20 years old.”’
The fiscal impact for California if the bill passes could be
significant, as the state stands to lose up to $21 million a year
in tax revenues.
Besides countless students who smoke and want to continue to do
so, opponents of the measure include the California Independent
Grocers and Convenience Stores, California Retailers Association
and several tobacco retailers.
Critics of the bill point to the loss in tax revenue as well as
the revocation of adult rights as reasons for opposition.
Some students are opposed to the bill because they feel it would
have little or no effect on tobacco regulation.
“I don’t think it will make a difference. … A lot
of people will still use tobacco,” said Shekhar Darke, a
20-year-old third-year business and economics student while he was
smoking outside Powell Library.
He added that increasing the eligibility age to 21 would make
tobacco just like alcohol, which is readily available to many
underage people who wish to consume it.
Stefanie Singer, a first-year political science student and
occasional smoker, said, “I would continue smoking even if
there was a ban. I started smoking before I was 18 anyway. The
drinking age at 21 is fine because alcohol impairs your judgement
and motor skills, but smoking doesn’t affect anyone except
the person doing it.”
Many proponents of the bill say people under 21 should not be
able to smoke, just as they are not able to drink or buy
handguns.
The California Medical Association voted last year to support
any proposed increase in the legal smoking age to 21. Other
supporters include the American Lung Association and the Preventing
Tobacco Addiction Foundation.
Rob Crane, president of Tobacco21.org, an online group that
works toward stricter smoking laws, said, “The bill …
better prevents (tobacco) use by younger kids from smoking because
their supply is often through kids in the later teen
years.”
“Tobacco kills 450,000 people a year, and college-age
people think they are invulnerable, and they are not. Tobacco
companies play to that sense of invulnerability,” he
added.
Currently, Alaska, Alabama and Utah are the only states
requiring tobacco purchasers to be older than 18. The three states
permit tobacco use at age 19.