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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

NYC Council gets tough on tobacco, approves raising purchase age to 21

By Rande Iaboni, CNN
New York (CNN) — The New York City Council voted on Wednesday night to approve an anti-tobacco law that will raise the tobacco-purchasing age from 18 to 21.
In addition to the “Tobacco 21” bill, which includes electronic cigarettes, the council also approved a second bill, “Sensible Tobacco Enforcement.” It will prohibit discounts on tobacco products and increase enforcement on vendors who attempt to evade taxes.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has 30 days to sign the bills into law. Given his previous support, that is likely to happen soon.
“By increasing the smoking age to 21, we will help prevent another generation from the ill health and shorter life expectancy that comes with smoking,” Bloomberg said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Tobacco 21” will take effect 180 days after it is enacted, according to the council’s news release.
New York City has now become the largest city to have an age limit as high as 21. Needham, Massachusetts, raised the sale age to 21 in 2005, according to the New York City Department of Health.
Neighboring states and counties have raised the tobacco sale age to 19, including New Jersey in 2005, the Department of Health said.
Raising the sales age “will protect teens and may prevent many people from ever starting to smoke,” Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley, said in a statement after the vote.
While many lawmakers appeared to be applauding the bills, some younger New Yorkers were not so pleased.
“You’re an adult; you should be able to buy a pack of cigarettes,” one New Yorker told CNN affiliate NY1. “I mean, you can think for yourself.”
“I think it’s ridiculous,” another New Yorker said, “Let us be, let us live.”
This is another step in Bloomberg’s mission for healthier NYC lifestyles.
In September 2012, the Board of Health voted to ban the sale of sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces in restaurants and other venues, a measure Bloomberg spearheaded.
The ban was later repealed by a New York State Supreme Court judge.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/30/us/new-york-city-tobacco-age/

Nationwide Fight Begins Over Raising Tobacco Age to 21

By 
New York City councilmen voted Wednesday to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21, a measure that will go into effect six months after it’s signed into law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a zealous anti-smoking advocate.
The Big Apple measure – which soared 35-10 through the city council – is part of a nationwide effort that seeks to make illegal the sale of tobacco to young adults.
In New Jersey, legislators are likely to debate a bill soon that would raise that state’s age limit to 21. New Jersey is currently tied for the highest statewide tobacco age limit, at 19.
Richard Codey, governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006, helped bump the state’s age limit from 18 to 19 less than 10 years ago. He’s now a state senator and the sponsor of new age limit legislation, which he is confident will prevail – and possibly help start a chain-reaction.
“Someone is going to read this in Connecticut or Illinois or somewhere else and go, yeah that’s a good idea,” Codey told U.S. News. “The only people who are opposed, obviously, are the tobacco companies. As far as I’m concerned, I’m on the side of the angels.”
Codey expects his bill to pass and take effect in early 2014. He hasn’t heard from Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., but he expects the prospective presidential candidate to consent to the change.
“Are some people going to get someone to buy cigarettes for them when they are not 21? Of course,” he said. “But there are other people who are not going to do that and obey the law and by the time they’re 21 are more mature and rational will realize that it’s not a good thing to do.”
Codey says his legislation was inspired by a phone conversation earlier this year with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, then a candidate for mayor, who called him and shared her plan for the higher age limit. After some conversation, he joined on.
Codey’s not sure if his bill would affect electronic cigarette sales – as New York City’s law does – but he’s opposed to young smokers adopting that technology.
“It’s like someone who starts on marijuana, then they want a better high – it’s just a reality of life,” he said. Electronic cigarette advocates vehemently disagree with such arguments and say the vast majority of users are conventional smokers seeking a healthier alternative.
One of the largest national anti-tobacco organizations fully supports banning 18-to-21-year-olds from buying cigarettes.
“As states and localities have looked into this, we’ve begun to get involved,” said Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
McGoldrick said his organization generally supports a “tried and true trifecta” of anti-tobacco policies – higher taxes, public smoking bans and educational campaigns – but will also advocate for raising tobacco age limits to 21 in any jurisdiction considering it.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is currently supporting an attempt to raise the smoking age to 21 at the county level on Hawaii’s largest island and has been involved in generalized efforts to raise the age to 21 for around a year.
A fact sheet from the group says around 50 percent of smokers begin using cigarettes daily before they turn 18 and that more than 75 percent of adult smokers do so before they turn 21, arguing that cutting off access at a young age may drop future adult smoking rates.
“To the degree we wouldn’t be involved, it would only be a resource question,” McGoldrick said. “We certainly support it from a policy perspective. We’re just going to have to see what the landscape looks like in terms of the biggest opportunities for success.”
In New York City, one unhappy activist who organizes smokers to push back against tough laws says politicians can expect a black market boom with the new age limit.
“They are not stopping anyone in that age group who wants to smoke,” said Audrey Silk, founder of New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment. “These young adults know very well where to get their cigarettes. The ones who have already been doing that will have more joining them to get their cigarettes from the ‘buttleggers,'” a term for smugglers who avoid high city taxes.
As the city government increased taxes on tobacco, Silk said, “a huge enterprise sprung up” and now many smokers have learned through word of mouth of illicit, less expensive cigarette dealers.
Silk, a former New York City cop, defiantly smokes cigarettes in city parks – deliberately violating Mayor Bloomberg’s ban by doing so – and her group won a rare victory Oct. 11 when a judge ruled against a statewide ban on smoking in parks.
“This one has no room for a lawsuit, unfortunately,” she concedes.
It’s unclear how city policy might change under Bloomberg’s successor, who will be selected in November. Neither Democrat Bill de Blasio nor Republican Joe Lhota have gone out of their way to advertise a position on the new age restriction.
“The lines have become blurred party wise because you can’t depend on any one party to defend our civil liberties,” Silk said. “My question to them is: Will you decline to accept the votes of this age group if they’re not smart enough [to decide whether or not to smoke]?”
Silk says it’s possible the age restriction will one day be reversed, but it’ll be an uphill climb.
“Prohibition [of alcohol] was reversed,” she said. “It took 13 years for that, so is it possible the age will be reduced one day? Yeah, it’s possible.” But, in the meantime, she admits “New York is a trendsetter” and will likely inspire young adult bans elsewhere.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/31/nationwide-fight-begins-over-raising-tobacco-age-to-21