California legislation would boost smoking age from 18 to 21

Lawmakers in California are weighing a proposal to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 over concern about tobacco use among teenagers.
State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Corvina) introduced the legislation on Thursday, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Hernandez, an optometrist, has earned the support of health groups ranging from the California Medical Association to the American Cancer Society, but he likely has a fight on his hands from the tobacco industry.
Hernandez blamed “Big Tobacco” for marketing tobacco to teenagers in order to get a new generation hooked on cigarettes, and that the companies know full well that people are more likely to become addicted if they start early.

A total of 40,000 Californians die from smoking-related causes each year, according to the American Lung Association in California, and 21,300 kids in the state start smoking each year.
Luther Cobb, president of the California Medical Association, said that increasing the age at which people can buy tobacco to 21 years old would decrease tobacco use among young people and reduce the number of smoking-related diseases in the population.
Robert Best, a regional representative of the Smoker’s Club, criticized the proposal, saying that smokers continued to be under attack from California lawmakers. He argued that the law would not keep teenagers from smoking, and that if anything the state should examine lowering the drinking age to 18. He argued that at 18, an individual is an adult and should be able to make decisions about those sorts of issues.
Tobacco firm Altria is opposed to the proposal, and is urging lawmakers to at least wait for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration study on the public health implications of raising the minimum wage. The FDA is expected to report those findings to Congress later this year.
David Sutton, an Altria spokesman, said that states and localities should “defer this regulatory process and give the FDA” time to review the science before enacting minimum age laws.

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