Becoming an adult may come with fewer legal rights for Californians.
The State Assembly is looking to increase the age for selling and consuming tobacco products from 18 to 21. This would include vaporizers, e-cigarettes and hookah pipes.
Under Senate Bill 151, introduced by San Gabriel Valley representative Senator Edward Hernandez of the 22nd District, the government would be responsible for creating a program to enforce the new law.
When introducing the bill, Hernandez said that 90 percent of tobacco users start before the age of 21 and that 80 percent of lifelong users start before the age of 18.
“This bill intends to prevent or severely restrict youth access to these highly addictive and deadly products,” Hernandez said in the bill statement. “The consumption of tobacco products leads to a lifetime of adverse health effects and remains the leading cause of preventable death in the nation and California.”
According to an Institute of Medicine study commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration, raising the minimum legal age for tobacco consumption could cause smoking prevalence to decrease by 12 percent. The study found that raising the smoking age to 25 could result in a 25 percent decrease in smoking.
The IOM argued that a rise in the minimum age of tobacco consumption would decrease the number of tobacco users. The IOM also found no health benefits from starting to smoke at 21 as opposed to 18, unlike the benefits associated with the older legal drinking age. The report indicated that potential reductions of tobacco-related diseases would take decades to notice.
Abdul Mutairi, a senior construction engineering major who started smoking when he was 17 years old, said that he knew people who started smoking as early as age 15.
“It could have interfered with their development,” Mutairi said. “It’s like alcohol… when you are 21 and you know what is good for you and what’s bad, [you are] more conscious of the choices you make.”
The Cigar Association of America, an opposing organization to the bill, stated that if adults at age 18 can vote and serve in the military at age 18, they should be allowed to make their own decisions about purchasing and smoking tobacco products.
“…Addressing public health concerns through criminal law is counterproductive and should be resolved with treatment and education, not criminal sanctions,” CAA stated.
Under criminal law, should the bill pass, anyone under the age of 21 caught with tobacco products or paraphernalia designed to consume tobacco would be charged a $75 fine or assigned 30 hours of community service.
The FDA holds broad authority over tobacco, as granted by the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. However, it is prohibited to raise the minimum age over 18 for tobacco consumption at federal level.
Several states have tried to raise the minimum legal age of tobacco products to 21 over the past several years, but all have failed. Four states, including Utah and New Jersey, have an age restriction of 19 for tobacco products. The city of Healdsburg, California raised the minimum legal age of tobacco purchases to age 21 in 2014.
The committee in charge of the bill passed it last week with a sweeping majority with 29 in support of the bill and 9 against. At this time, the bill is finalized and awaiting a vote in the assembly.