Bill would raise Calif. smoking age to 21
By Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee
In an effort to keep cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers, state Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa, announced legislation Thursday that would raise the legal smoking age in California from 18 to 21.
“Tobacco companies know that people are more likely to become addicted to smoking if they start at a young age” Hernandez said in a statement. “We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines while big tobacco markets to our kids and gets another generation of young people hooked on a product that will ultimately kill them.”
Nine in ten smokers take up the habit by the age of 18, according to the American Lung Association in California, and 36,000 California kids start smoking each year.
Yeah, make ’em illegal. That’ll stop ’em.
It’s about time! E-cigs/vapor should also be under the guise of tobacco regulations. It’s liquid nicotine and it’s addictive and costly. Costly in lives and medical illnesses which we all pay for.
Lisa, it isn’t the nicotine that’s so deadly, it’s the tars in the SMOKE. Which doesn’t happen with e-cigs.
I understand people not approving of cigarettes, but the hysteria shouldn’t apply to e-cigs as well. Nicotine is a pretty benign drug. Probably LESS addictive than your coffee.