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Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill May 4 that will raise the state's smoking age to 21 from 18, starting June 9.
California will be the second state to raise the age of buying any sort of tobacco to 21.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
The U.S Department of Health and Humans services predicts that if smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than the age of 18 are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans of ages 17 years or younger.
The California bill had a strong focus on preventing young adults to reduce their use of tobacco.
Bills
California Senate committees approved a series of six tobacco-related bills.
SBX2-7/ABX2-8, prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from buying, smoking, vaping or chewing tobacco products.
According to the California Department of Education, over 75 percent of school districts in California are certified as tobacco-free school districts. Another bill, SBX2-8/ABX2-9, requires all schools in the state to be tobacco-free.
A press release from Ed Hernandez Senator California State Senator’s office cited a 2016 federal Institute of Medicine study which, "concluded that increasing the minimum age to 21 would result in 200,000 fewer premature deaths for those born between the years 2000 and 2019."
"This step in the Senate represents a move toward immediate life-saving policy in California. Not only will this pack of bills increase public health, but they will reduce teen smoking, which in turn will result in less heart disease, stroke and other smoking-related illnesses" said Kimberly Amazeen, vice president of public policy and advocacy at the American Lung Association in California in a press release.
The bills signed exempted military personnel of ages 18 and above to continue purchasing tobacco products.
The Two Sides
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called the passing of these bills a huge victory for the nation. Its campaign fights to help prevent the use of tobacco but more specifically the use of tobacco products in young adults.
“Despite threats from the big tobacco lobby, we will do everything possible to save lives and protect our children from the deadly effects of tobacco,” Brown Brown wrote in his veto message for a bill authored by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica).
While Democratic lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate favored passing the Tobacco to 21 Act, Republicans and tobacco companies think otherwise. Their defense revolved around the idea that if you are old enough to enlist in the military, get married and vote you should be able to come to a decision to buy tobacco products willingly.
"You can give your life but you can't buy a pack of cigarettes," said Republican leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, who opposed the bill according to his statement in PressReader.
Implementation
The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 requires the State Board of Equalization to implement a statewide program to license manufacturers, importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers of cigarettes and tobacco products costing these groups $1,000 per year, the bills signed will increase this amount to $1,200.
“Tobacco companies know that people are more likely to become addicted to smoking if they start at a young age,” Hernandez said Thursday. “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” said Hernandez.