2020 will be the year you must be 21 to smoke or vape

December 20, 2019 36 Comments

as the legal age in the US to smoke will rise to 21 next year in the US, according to the spending bill that's supposed to be signed today.  The age increase will cover cigarettes, e-cigarettes, eLiquids and all other tobacco products regardless of how or why they were deemed tobacco products in the first place.

The nationwide increase of the legal smoking age, which is currently 18 in a majority of the states, has long been a goal of anti-smoking advocates and has bipartisan support.  Unfortunately for those who smoke or vape currently and are not 21 or going to be by the time this new law takes effect, there is no grandfather clause.   You're supposed to just quit, I guess?  Don't worry, there are still plenty of big pharma companies that will sell you gums, patches, lozenges, and anything else that's not deemed a tobacco product. 

Cigarette smoking has massively plummeted among high school seniors over the past decade with less than 4% of them admitting to smoking daily.  Naturally this is because vaping has come into existence, so as more curious teenagers do what curious teenagers do, they've tried them and preferred them over smoking.

This age increase is of course directly related to a nationwide hysterical reaction to vaping because of complete unrelated but deadly lung injuries among people buying illicit vaping products. That's what people do when you can't legally access things they want anyway, they are forced to go right to the black market, so best case scenario for this age increase is you'll have even more of these injuries and illegal buyers. 

American Lung Association President Harold Wimmer approves of the age increase and had this to say; "ultimately, more must be done by both Congress and the Trump Administration if our nation is to halt the youth e-cigarette epidemic."  Fanning the flames of the hysteria doesn't seem like it's in the best interest of the public health, but even the American Vaping Association is on board with this change. 

What do you think about this age increase?  Will it have it's intended effect? Will we see more "vaping related" injuries in the news or will the youth simply find people of age to purchase their goods for them as we see currently with alcohol?

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