"Assuming Governor Jerry Brown signs the new bill, California will become the second state to have raised the age required to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21." - molly Gardner
Earlier this month, California legislators approved a bill that would raise our state’s smoking age to 21. Assuming Governor Jerry Brown signs the bill, the law will go into effect later this year, making us the second state (after Hawaii) to have raised the age required to purchase tobacco from 18. This law would also include restrictions on e-cigarettes, which don’t contain tobacco--but still are far from healthy. Besides nicotine, e-cigs also have formaldehyde, a chemical used in embalming corpses.
Most Bay Area residents seem to be in favor of the new law. The SF Chronicle was quoted in their article “California Should Toughen Tobacco Laws” explicitly stating that “lawmakers should approve a string of six tobacco control bills instead of caving to a lethal industry.” California has historically been aggressive in its anti-smoking campaigns--as most blue states are. Lobbyists for the bill were mostly Democrats, whereas its opponents were primarily Republican. Senator Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) told the LA Times, “If we want to ban cigarettes, let’s just ban them.”
Rep. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) He has a point. Almost all smokers begin smoking before they’re 18, so would raising the smoking age to 21 actually impact the number of young people who begin smoking? Maybe. But most young people begin drinking before their 21st birthday as well, especially in places where alcohol is easily accessible, like college parties. In other words, raising the legal age for tobacco purchase would only lower the number of people who begin smoking, if their environment also supports abstinence. Culture affects behavior as much as--or more than--laws do.
Unsurprisingly, Bay Area residents seem most bothered by the potential effects the new law might have on the legalization of marijuana. While states like Washington and Colorado have all legalized the recreational use of marijuana, even ultra-liberal California hasn’t yet jumped on board. In light of the raised smoking age, many people are now worried that marijuana will never be legal here--and that even if it is legalized, the age for marijuana purchase will be 21, not 18. They’re right: every bill proposed in support of the decriminalization of marijuana in California would allow residents 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of weed, six plants, and four grams of concentrates.
Unsurprisingly, Bay Area residents seem most bothered by the potential effects the new law might have on the legalization of marijuana. While states like Washington and Colorado have all legalized the recreational use of marijuana, even ultra-liberal California hasn’t yet jumped on board. In light of the raised smoking age, many people are now worried that marijuana will never be legal here--and that even if it is legalized, the age for marijuana purchase will be 21, not 18. They’re right: every bill proposed in support of the decriminalization of marijuana in California would allow residents 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of weed, six plants, and four grams of concentrates.
But in the Bay Area, marijuana is everywhere, despite the fact it’s a felony punishable by 3-7 years in the state penitentiary. And cigarettes are sold all over the Bay too, even though it’s no secret that they kill, by the millions. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently stated that, “If smoking continues at the current rate among youth in this country, 5.6 million of today’s Americans under 18 will die early from a smoking-related illness. That’s about one of every thirteen Americans aged 17 years younger alive today.” That number might seem small, but over 33,000 airliners would have to crash (and every passenger aboard would have to perish) to equal the same number of losses.
So maybe raising the legal age to purchase tobacco is a good thing--that is, if the cultural attitude towards smoking changes along with it. Otherwise, millions of young people not unlike students at OSA will die. And unlike a plane crash, it won’t even make the news.
So maybe raising the legal age to purchase tobacco is a good thing--that is, if the cultural attitude towards smoking changes along with it. Otherwise, millions of young people not unlike students at OSA will die. And unlike a plane crash, it won’t even make the news.
