Boston recently joined dozens of smaller MA communities with a minimum tobacco purchase age of 21.
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Other public health researchers even suggested that these devices could be detrimental to smokers trying to quit, or act as a gateway to smoking in younger people and non-smoker populations.
Across the country in Rhode Island, state Rep. Teresa Tanzi introduced a measure that would change the tobacco buying age from 18 to 21, WPRI-TV reports. Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London.”E-cigarettes have a potential to reduce smoking-related morbidity and many smokers are successful in making the switch from smoking to vaping”.
Hogan said a statewide standard would eliminate confusion caused by the current patchwork of local rules.
Those now between the ages of 18 and 21 who can purchase tobacco legally would be exempted.
San Francisco raised the legal age people can purchase tobacco products to 21 on Tuesday (March 2), CNN reports.
Ryan Kearney, general counsel for the Retailers Association of MA, said the group has not taken a formal position on the bill but its impact would be felt by convenience stores and gas stations that sell tobacco.
“The magnitude of these rights and responsibilities demonstrate that 18 years is the age at which a person becomes an adult and they should be afforded the right to make decisions as an adult, ” Briant said, as reported by the Courant.
Times of India further went on to quote Dr Jha, who said that, “Cigarettes are steadily displacing traditional bidis”.
The legislation cleared a series of votes in the state Senate last summer, but in the hectic final few days of last year’s legislative session the bills stalled in the lower house and languished there until now. A 2015 report from the Institute of Medicine, for example, found that 90 percent of daily smokers started before 19.
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Ambassadors for all 28 EU member states have quietly told the European Commission to come up with plans by the end of next year to reclassify e-cigarettes as regular tobacco products for tax purposes.
