The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to raise the legal age for tobacco purchases from 18 to 21.
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The city’s attorney, however, said the ordinance, which applies to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, was legally sound. Santa Clara County, on the other hand, has not.
Wiener is unfazed by potential challenges, reports KQED: “Our city has a history of taking on major industries in the name of public health, in the name of consumers, and winning”.
“We know that 95 percent of adult smokers began smoking before they turned 21, and tobacco companies spend billions of dollars annually to market their deadly and addictive products”, campaign president Matthew Myers said in a statement today.
Lawmakers are expected to discuss a bill on Tuesday that would raise the legal age at which Tennesseans could buy tobacco to 21.
The executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Thomas Briant, had asked the supervisors to postpone voting on the legislation until the state Attorney General Kamala Harris issues a decision.
A report by Institute of Medicine released in March has unveiled that if the legal purchase of tobacco products is raised to 21, there will be a 12% decline in smokers.
It is unclear how San Francisco’s smoking law will affect medicinal marijuana. The Board of Supervisors’ domain is the City and County of San Francisco.
Hawaii raised its smoking age to 21 statewide previous year, the first state to do so. Officials will vote Tuesday on whether to increase the minimum age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21 in San Francisco, even as opponents argue that cities and counties can not trump California law.
Recent polls reveal that the majority of Americans think raising the legal age is a good idea. Wiener said San Francisco has already received “multiple letters” from the tobacco industry threatening to sue on the claim that the ordinance is preempted by California law.
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The new legislation will go into effect on June 1.
