Utah Lawmakers endorse plan to hike smoking age to 21

By Lee Davidson | The Salt Lake Tribune
Legislators took a first step Wednesday toward raising Utah’s already highest-among-the-states smoking age, from 19 to 21. Committee endorsement of the proposal came despite lively arguments by even some cigarette opponents that the move would infringe on the personal liberty of adults.
“We have a responsibility to protect first and foremost the liberties of our citizens, not to protect them from harm that they may cause to themselves,” said Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, one of five members of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee who voted against the bill.
But Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden, the bill’s sponsor, said, “We make judgment calls about that all the time. Obviously, you wouldn’t advocate that we didn’t have any regulations, that we didn’t have any speed limits, that we didn’t inspect food.”
Reid added that Utah already bans drinking alcohol until age 21 — and argued that even more reason exists to also ban smoking until that age. “We know tobacco will kill people. You can drink and you’re not necessarily going to get sick or die from it.”
But Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, who voted against the bill, rejected the comparison.
“I think there is a huge difference between cigarettes and alcohol. Cigarettes, you are talking about someone harming themselves. Alcohol, we’re talking about someone getting behind the wheel of a car and killing a family.”
The legal age to buy, sell or possess tobacco in most states is 18, with four exceptions. It is 19 in Utah, Alaska, Alabama and New Jersey. Utah is not the only place looking at raising the smoking age. New York City just approved raising it to 21, as have some other cities nationally. Legislatures in Hawaii, New Jersey, Colorado and Texas are all expected to consider similar bills next year — as will Utah now that the interim committee endorsed it.
Testifying in favor of the bill were anti-smoking groups and state and local health departments. The only group that testified against it Wednesday were retailers who sell cigarettes, although several lawmakers — who all said they dislike cigarettes — raised concerns about interfering with freedom.
DavidPatton, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, said state studies show that most young teenagers obtain their cigarettes illegally from adults who themselves are just barely old enough to buy them legally.
“Ninety percent of legal adults that purchase tobacco for underage smokers are under age 21,” he said, so raising the smoking age likely also would reduce the number of teenagers who try smoking and become addicted.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57157897-90/adults-age-alcohol-bill.html.csp