TRENDING

As of this week, California is officially the second U.S. state to raise the legal smoking age to 21. The Golden State joins Hawaii—in addition to more than 100 cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston, Cleveland and Kansas City—in the move.

Approved on Wednesday by Governor Jerry Brown, here’s how the law works: Everyone under the age of 21 is now prohibited from purchasing all forms of tobacco—with one exception. Active military personnel can continue to purchase cigarettes, using a valid military ID card, at age 18. 

This stipulation was a change to the original bill, notes CNN, because some argued that “if 18-year-olds can be drafted or volunteer to fight and die for their country, they should be allowed to buy tobacco products.” (Notably, it’s still illegal for 18- to 20-year-old military members to purchase and consume alcohol—but a Maryland senator recently proposed a bill that would allow military members to consume beer and wine at age 18.)

Other parts of the new legislation also ban the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 21 and restrict where e-cigs can be used in public places. Want more details? Read the whole thing right here.

So what’s the point of raising the legal tobacco and e-cig smoking age by just 3 years? Lawmakers involved in the bill stated that the new laws will “save countless lives” and “reduce astronomical costs to the health care system.” CNN also cites a study from the Institute of Medicine which estimates that raising the minimum smoking age to 21 nationally would result in nearly 250,000 fewer premature deaths and 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer among people born between 2000 and 2019.

What do *you* think of these new laws—good, bad or not enough? What do you think lawmakers in your state and city should do? Share in the comments.

by GL | 5/7/2016