McConnell and Kaine Introduce Bill to Raise Age to Buy Tobacco to 21 - Do You Support It?

Update - May 21, 2019:

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) have introduced a bill that would raise the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21 to curb what regulators are calling an "epidemic" of teen vaping.

“[W]e are coming together to side with young people’s health,” Kaine said in a statement. “With this bipartisan legislation, Senator McConnell and I are working to address one of the most significant public health issues facing our nation today."

“We’re in the middle of a national health epidemic,” McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor. “Youth vaping is a public health crisis.”

• Altria, Juul, and R. J. Reynolds Tobacco have all voiced support for the legislation.
• “We commend Senator McConnell for announcing this legislation as we strongly support raising the purchasing age for all tobacco products, including vapor products, to 21,” Kevin Burns, chief executive of Juul, told the New York Times.

“Tobacco 21 laws fight one of the largest contributors to this problem — sharing by legal-age peers — and they have been shown to dramatically reduce youth usage rates.”

Countable's original story appears below.

What’s the story?

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will introduce legislation aimed at raising the national minimum age to buy tobacco to 21 from 18.

“For some time, I’ve been hearing from the parents who are seeing an unprecedented spike in vaping among their teenage children. In addition, we all know people who started smoking at a young age and who struggled to quit as adults. Unfortunately it’s reaching epidemic levels around the country,” McConnell said in a statement.

• The bill, which will be introduced next month, comes after 12 states have already raised the age for smoking and vaping to 21.

What are people saying?

• McConnell spoke at a joint news conference in his tobacco-producing home state of Kentucky with Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

"I hope my legislation will earn strong, bipartisan support in the Senate," McConnell said. "I’m confident many of my colleagues will agree that protecting our young people from starting tobacco use at an early age can have remarkable, long-term health benefits for Kentucky and the country.”

• Chandler added: "Because most smoking and most other tobacco use starts before the age of 18, every time we prevent an adolescent or teen from buying tobacco, we increase the probability that he or she will avoid tobacco throughout their lives."
• Altria, maker of Marlboro and other brands of cigarettes, said it "strongly supports raising the legal age of purchase for all tobacco products."

"This is the most effective action to reverse rising underage e- vapor usage rates," Altria said in a statement.

• Last year, Kentucky lawmakers rejected a similar state initiative to raise the minimum legal age for buying tobacco products to 21. Instead, Gov. Matt Begin (R) recently signed a law banning the use of tobacco products in all Kentucky schools and events beginning in 2020.

What do you think?

Would you support a bill raising the smoking age to 21? Take action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: iStock / licsiren)