According to The Los Angeles Times, “Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed a pack of bills that will raise the smoking age in California from 18 to 21, restrict the use of electronic cigarettes in public places and expand nonsmoking areas at public schools.” While I in no way advocate for the use of tobacco or smoking, I do believe that raising the minimum age to purchase said tobacco products from 18 years ol
According to The Los Angeles Times, “Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed a pack of bills that will raise the smoking age in California from 18 to 21, restrict the use of electronic cigarettes in public places and expand nonsmoking areas at public schools.” While I in no way advocate for the use of tobacco or smoking, I do believe that raising the minimum age to purchase said tobacco products from 18 years old to 21 is pointless for numerous reasons.
Given that all American citizens retain both the right to vote and join the military by the age of 18, it would only make sense that our status as adults carries into our tobacco buying abilities. Not only that, but making tobacco use illegal until the 21 year mark would only force tobacco to join the lucrative ranks of alcohol and marijuana in widespread use among high school and college students.
Plus, many places rarely, if ever, enforce this rule by carding individuals anyways. I have even seen kids around only 13 or so who have already developed a full-fledged addiction, so what exactly would raising an already unenforced age restriction do for the youth of California? That is not to say that the law is not without good intentions, the law itself is harmless and probably will not change young Californians’ tobacco habits.
No, it is more the already existent lack of law enforcement efforts to keep kids from getting a hold of the substance. But therein lays the problem—our own inactivity in upholding the law. Whether we lower the minimum tobacco product smoking/buying age to 13 or crank it all the way up to 21, we will still be left with countless smoke shop owners who will turn a blind eye to make an extra buck and many California policeman who have better problems to deal with than a couple of young hoodlums smoking a cigarette.
Instead of focusing on age restrictions and technicalities, we should hone our efforts more in on current non-abiding citizens who so not uphold current laws before we up the ante.
