Massachusetts could soon become the second state in the nation where 18, 19 and 20-years olds won't be able to purchase tobacco products.
Democratic senators and public health advocates want the Commonwealth's government to discourage young adults from smoking. A simple way to do that, they say, is by making it illegal for them to buy the stuff.
"This legislation will reduce tobacco use and the resulting nicotine addiction among our young people which will in turn improve health, save lives and over time reduce healthcare costs," Sen. Jason Lewis, the bill's main sponsor said while introducing the measure.
A proposal passed by the Senate on a 32-2 vote Thursday would change state law so that no one under 21 years old could purchase tobacco at any store in Massachusetts.
The proposal comes after around one quarter of Massachusetts towns and cities, including Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Framingham, have raised their own age limits by one to three years already. Beacon Hill can be sometimes slow to act, but growing municipal support can have an impact on how quickly the Legislature formulates state-wide policy.
Massachusetts isn't alone in considering upping the purchasing age. California's senate passed a similar bill earlier this year that is pending, and New York City has already passed a 21-plus ordinance for the nation's largest city.
Sen. Don Humason (R-Westfield) voted against the change, along with Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Webster) and argued that young adults should be able to make their own choices, even unhealthy ones.
Retailers have argued that kids that really want it will still be able to get their hands on tobacco and a higher age limit will just hurt business.
If passed and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker, it would go into effect starting next year. But if you're between 18 and 21 before January 1, you'll get grandfathered in and can puff away.
According to the State House News Service, Baker is "conceptually" supportive of the move to a 21-plus smoking age.
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies issued a study in March 2015 that said increasing the minimum age to buy tobacco greatly delays or prevents adolescents under that age from picking up the habit. The study concludes that if 18-to-21 years old peers have a harder time supplying products to teens, the teens are less likely to start using tobacco.
Under the bill, stores caught selling tobacco illegally could be fined one hundred to three hundred dollars.
The Senate's bill would also reclassify some smokeless tobacco, like e-cigarettes and vapor products, to include them in public smoking bans.
