FDA officially raises age to buy tobacco to 21

[BobE]

The Food and Drug Administration officially raised the age to buy tobacco in the U.S. from 18 to 21, fulfilling a key portion of the federal spending package that President Trump signed into law last week.

The big picture: The decision comes faster than some expected as the FDA had six months to amend their policies after Trump signed the bill and another 90 days to officially adopt the change. 19 states and the District of Columbia had already put in place laws to raise the minimum buying age for tobacco products — including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes — to 21.

FDA officially raises age to buy tobacco to 21

The agency's decision comes faster than some expected.

www.axios.com

I'm kind of torn on this. It's the same age for alcohol which I get but yet it's still 18 to join the military. I've seen a lot of people on social media who want the age for all 3 raised to 25 since that is when the brain is fully developed which makes sense. Yet these same people want the voting age lowered to 16 which seems dumb.

 

[Farb]

I love when our fearless leaders pass legislation in the 'middle of the night' so as not to bother us underlings into thinking.Want to know why people don't trust their elected leaders.....this.

 

[Archies Ghost]

If we were responsible for our own poor decisions, I would be all for no age limits. However, since we are trending towards requiring people who make good life choices to pay for those who make poor life choices, I am all for anything that will potentially lower the bill.

And that is exactly how this works. He who pays, makes the rules.

 

[samiam5211]

It’s weird that this seems to have stemmed from hysteria surrounding the much safer alternative of vaping.

I don’t have a problem with it really, but I’m not a 19 year old addicted to smoking.

I’m a smoker, but I wouldn’t have a problem if they just banned sales of tobacco altogether. I don’t believe that a black market for tobacco would sustain itself very long.

Tobacco is 1000x more harmful to society than weed.

 

[Farb]

There already is a black market for tobacco.

 

[samiam5211]

There already is a black market for tobacco.

I remember reading a study a while back that said the current black market for tobacco is supplied almost entirely by big tobacco.

I think if we didn’t have all those commercial tobacco farms producing, the black market would not be profitable enough to sustain itself.

 

[Archies Ghost]

I remember reading a study a while back that said the current black market for tobacco is supplied almost entirely by big tobacco.

I think if we didn’t have all those commercial tobacco farms producing, the black market would not be profitable enough to sustain itself.

Its not like we have any other examples of an addictive plant product creating a huge black market when said plant is illegal.

 

[GMRfellowtraveller]

If we were responsible for our own poor decisions, I would be all for no age limits. However, since we are trending towards requiring people who make good life choices to pay for those who make poor life choices, I am all for anything that will potentially lower the bill.

And that is exactly how this works. He who pays, makes the rules.

11 yr olds driving cars or buying guns or signing up for duty?
what do you mean no age limits?

 

[samiam5211]

Its not like we have any other examples of an addictive plant product creating a huge black market when said plant is illegal.

Yes because everything is the same.

Tobacco is not cocaine or even weed or like any recreational drug people use. It doesn’t numb a painful back or painful memory.

Coke addicts love coke.

Stoners love weed.

Many if not most smokers hate tobacco.

 

[Archies Ghost]

Yes because everything is the same.

Tobacco is not cocaine or even weed or like any recreational drug people use. It doesn’t numb a painful back or painful memory.

Coke addicts love coke.

Stoners love weed.

Many if not most smokers hate tobacco.

I really think your opinions are formed by watching television and cinema fiction.

Drug addicts are trapped in a cycle they have little chance to escape. The only difference is nicotine takes a very long time to kill you while others are, by varying degrees, much quicker.

It is rather silly to believe outlawing tobacco is going to result in little to no black market demand.

Nicotine is one of the most powerful addictive substances.

 

[Archies Ghost]

11 yr olds driving cars or buying guns or signing up for duty?
what do you mean no age limits?

How about 11 year old kids have the right to buy, drive and get paid as mercenaries in a M1A2 Abrams?

 

[SystemShock]

Another reason for teenagers to flood Cancún.

Come for the weed, come from the coke, come from the meth?
No, come for booze and tobacco.

 

[crosswatt]

If we were responsible for our own poor decisions, I would be all for no age limits. However, since we are trending towards requiring people who make good life choices to pay for those who make poor life choices, I am all for anything that will potentially lower the bill.

And that is exactly how this works. He who pays, makes the rules.

I don't understand why you refer to it as "trending towards making those who make good life choices pay for those who make poor life choices" as our country has been doing that since before you and I were born.

As we speak, a little over a fifth of our fellow citizens are on Medicaid. Your current health insurance and life insurance rates are based on actuarial tables that increase your rate to the amount they need to cover those who are a net negative into the policy group. So it's already the default.

 

[crosswatt]

As far as raising the age, I'm not in favor at all. I don't smoke, and never have. And I put in a category of actions that are bad and we as a society should make efforts to reduce the number of smokers through education and alternative options, but that should be allowed for those who wish to engage in it still.

We need to maybe reexamine what we as a society feel a legal adult is, and then let them be adults.

 

[wardorican]

It is worth asking why Mitch McConnell wanted this. And why Tim Kaine co sponsored it.

I've only just started to scratch the surface, but with Mitch, my guess is this editorial is likely right. It's really a shell game to allow RJR easier access to kids. Counter intuitive, right?

Mitch McConnell's Tobacco 21 bill is a trap | Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education

tobacco.ucsf.edu

While Mitch McConnell's bill raising the federal age for selling tobacco products did not include state preemption as I was worried it would, it still contains a very dangeous provision requiring states to raise their legal ages to 21 by amending the Synar Ammendment to raise the age from 18 to 21.

The Synar Amendment, passed in 1992 by Congress, requires states to reduce sales of tobacco to youth under 18 or risk losing some of their Substance Abuse and Mental Health funding from the federal government. Unfortunately, the tobacco companies used Synar to get a lot of bad state laws passed that ended up blocking effective tobacco control measures. (You can read the details for 33 of the states here.) The McConnell bill could start that process all over again by creating a rush to pass state legislation raising the age to 21 together with a lot of bad technical details that will actually make it easier for Juul, Philip Morris, and RJ Reynolds to continue preying ok kids by simply overwhelming the health groups in state legislatures.

 

[wardorican]

Tobacco-Free Kids Statement on McConnell-Kaine Bill to Raise the…

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

www.tobaccofreekids.org

Of course, they want strong 21 and over laws and dont want kids or teens smoking. So their complaints will also be that this isnt strong enough, but the point is that there seems to be a way for stores to comply, but kids still smoke/vape and RJR still makes their money off the youth and addicted.

 

[wardorican]

My stance. This is stupid. I hate smoking. My wife is smoking again. I'd love nothing more than for her to quit. But, for some, a smoke is what helps them with their nerves. There are better options, of course.

18 was fine.

If the issues were with vaping, then address the actual issues with vaping. I just downloaded some research on teen smoking, so I'll see if vaping caused a big jump.

 

[wardorican]

So, I kind of forgot that flavored cigarettes were mostly banned (along with kid marketing years ago), and tobacco companies have worked around similar laws with cigars and vaping products didnt exist, so they dont seem to have been covered.

From 2017 to 2019 3 million more kids were vaping. Not sure if they switched from cigarettes to vaping or of these arw new tobacco users.

Attached the paper. Still looking it over.