Utah Quashes Bill to Increase Smoking Age

Senators voted against the measure to raise the legal age from 19 to 21.

March 05, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Senate doused a bill that would have raised the legal age to buy tobacco products from 19 to 21, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The main concern centered around the rights of adults to have access to a legal product. Other legislators worried about the loss of millions in taxes if the tobacco buying age increased two years.

“These are not children,” said state Sen. Karen Mayne. How can lawmakers say, “You can’t do this one thing over here because we’re smarter than you”?

State Sen. Stuart Reid had championed the measure in an effort to help teens not smoke. “It makes sense for Utah to lead out on this and set the example and make a statement to the nation that there’s nothing valuable in allowing young people to smoke,” he said.

“If we were going to outlaw smoking, that would be a whole other issue. But we keep trying to cut around the edges,” added Sen. Margaret Dayton. “My no vote on this bill is not because I think smoking is a good thing. But I don’t think this is the right way to address this issue.”

Utah, Alabama, Alaska and New Jersey already require tobacco purchasers to be 19. A bill in Hawaii raising its legal smoking age to 21 is pending in state legislatures, as are similar measures in Massachusetts and New Jersey. New York City and Hawaii Country, Hawaii, last year raised their legal tobacco age to 21.

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