In 2009, during the administration of Barack Obama, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was passed, which again established a federal minimum age of eighteen and prohibited the FDA from setting a higher minimum age of purchase. [8] From 1993 to 2012, the smoking age was eighteen or nineteen in all states. In 2005, the city of Needham, Massachusetts, became the first jurisdiction in the country to raise the minimum purchasing age to 21. [9] Between 2012 and 2015, local communities in the United States began raising their smoking age to twenty-one, with Hawaii becoming the first state to increase its age to twenty-one in 2015. [10] This began the shift to states that eventually raised their age to twenty-one due to the teen vaping crisis. [11] In 2019, eighteen states had their minimum purchasing age at twenty-one, thirty states had their age at eighteen, two had it at nineteen, and the District of Columbia had it at twenty-one. On December 20, 2019, with the passage of fiscal year 2020 funds signed by President Donald Trump, the federal age for smokers was raised to twenty-one by changing the minimum age of purchase in the Synar Amendment of 1992. [12] The U.S. Department of Defense followed suit and raised the age for buying tobacco at military bases in the United States and abroad to twenty-one. [13] The minimum age of sale of 18 is appropriate and should not be changed. Eighteen-year-olds are considered mature enough to serve in the military, enter into contracts, and marry; And 18 is usually the age at which young people leave home to study. Proposals to raise the minimum age for sale simply do not solve a “youth” problem – unless a new definition of “youth” is adopted that is appropriate on occasion.
It is therefore difficult to see what would be the point of raising the minimum age for the sale of tobacco. The main effect of this may simply be to encourage 18- to 20-year-olds to find other legal or illegal ways to obtain tobacco. The minimum age for alcohol sales of 21 is an exception to the general rule that 18 is the age at which adolescents are treated as adults in our society [emphasis in original].7(S2) Some notable exceptions are Germany, where the limit applies as in Singapore, and the United Kingdom, where the minimum smoking age is 16. In Ukraine, it is legal for people to smoke at the age of 14, although they must be 18 and older to buy tobacco products. On December 20, 2019, the President signed a law amending the Federal Law on Food, Medicines and Cosmetics and raising the minimum age for the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21. This law (known as “Tobacco 21” or “T21”) came into effect immediately, and it is now illegal for a retailer to sell tobacco products – including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes – to anyone under the age of 21. The new federal minimum age applies to all retail establishments and to persons without exception. On December 20, 2019, Congress increased the MLSA for tobacco products from ages 18 to 21. This law, known as Tobacco 21 or T21, came into force immediately, and it is now illegal for a retailer to sell tobacco products – including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes – to anyone under the age of 21.8 The new federal MHA applies to all retail establishments and persons without exception; It applies to retailers in all states, DC, all U.S.
territories, and tribal lands. There are no exceptions for active military personnel or veterans between the ages of 18 and 20.8, as was previously the case in some states.9 Raising the legal age for cigarette buyers to 21 could hurt our largest market for young adults (17-20). If we lose this market segment completely, it could result in a drop in revenue of almost $400 million. In addition, 66% of all smokers start smoking at or before age 18, 80% start smoking before age 21. 62 (p9) Young adult smokers have the highest smoking rates of any age group in the United States, and the early years of smoking are key to entrenching addiction.63-69 As a result, Philip Morris` 5-year plan indicated that society was willing to devote enormous resources to blocking WADA`s proposals. The legal smoking age in Singapore could rise from 18 to 21 if a new bill is passed, which will be introduced in Parliament on Monday 2 October. With the passage of federal law T21, there have also been corresponding updates to the Synar program. To receive their block drug grants, states and territories must now report illicit sales to people under the age of 21, whether or not they have increased their own MLSA to 21.5 As the industry has known since at least the 1960s, increasing the number of MPs in the tobacco sector would reduce tobacco consumption. Efforts in the 21st century to train tobacco MPs reflect a growing understanding of the process by which people become addicted to tobacco.
