21 to smoke? California Assembly approves raising smoking age

[Eugene]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Breaking a political logjam, the state Assembly on Thursday approved a package of anti-tobacco bills, including measures that would raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 in California and ban the use of electronic cigarettes in restaurants, theaters and other public places where traditional smoking is prohibited.

Lawmakers cited the health risks of tobacco in approving six bills and sending them to the state Senate, which had previously acted on the smoking-age and vaping bills but must now vote on minor amendments.

Republicans said it was unfair to take away the decision on whether to smoke from young people who are old enough to marry, vote, sign contracts and join the military.

"You can give your life but you can't buy a pack of cigarettes," said Republican leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, who opposed the bill.

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Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-raising-smoking-age-20160303-story.html

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By Patrick McGreevy
MARCH 3, 2016, 3:15 PM | REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO

[Feeling the Bern]

1. No more nanny state bullshit

[phazed0]

2. Ex-Smoker, now Vapor

I agree with the Republicans on this one. Either make an adult an adult at 18 or 21, but not both. When did the Dems become the Nannies?

[jayfish]

18. I Sure Wish Vaping Was An Available Option When I Was 15.

It would have saved me 25 years worth of smoking.

[ripcord]

42. Remember this is California

Where even the republicans are more liberal.

[bigwillq]

45. Hello

Welcome to DU!

[phazed0]

46. Thanks bigwillq! n/t

[rpannier]

3. Stupid

18 you can enlist and get trained to kill, but you can't buy cigarettes.
Nanny state crap again

[Blue_Adept]

4. Keep it at 18 and lower the drinking age too

Might as well, right?

[MADem]

5. It used to be 21 to drink/smoke/vote.

No one really checked the smoking bit, way back when... and kids always drank illegally.

Then, when it became apparent that so many youngsters were dying without being able to legally smoke, drink and vote, they lowered the age for all that to 18.

Then they pushed alcohol back to 21, and now, I guess, tobacco is next.

Will they roll back the voting age, I wonder?

Already, many colleges have added a fifth year. How long before that becomes a paradigm? They say your brain isn't fully formed until you're 25. I was hard at work at that age...had been for some time.

[happyslug]

38. In August of 1918, Congress permitted 18 year olds to be drafted

Till then the rule was age 21 for service overseas. You could not even enlist prior to turning 21 unless you had your parents permission. During WWII the draft remained at age 18, but to enlist you had to have your parent's permission (through that ended in 1942 when you could no longer enlist, everyone was drafted, the right to enlist returned in 1946).

Just a comment that 21was the rule before most people went to high school. Most enlisted ranks in WWI did not graduate high school, but most enlistees (and that includes draftees) of WWII had graduated high school.

[MADem]

40. I would like to see the military go BACK to 21 for overseas duty, and no more than a 3 year

enlistment for 18 year olds. When kids in uniform hit 21, they ought to have a "reset" button available to them if they don't want to be deployed abroad.

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. 18 or 21, pick one or the other but not half-adult half-not-adult. This needs to be settled.

[etherealtruth]

11. Exactly

[Igel]

12. For some things you're adult at 21.

And for others, at 18.

But there are a range of things that you're presumed mature enough to decide when you're younger.

Oddly, it seems like the more important the decision, the younger the age. Drinking is actually a fairly moderate kind of activity--less harmful then becoming permanently addicted to nicotine or going off to war.

In some states, the age of consent is lower, and if you want to bear a child or avoid bearing a child, it's up to you. Or drop out of school. Etc. The transition to "adulthood" is smeared over years.

[Midwestern Democrat]

21. Drinking causes a lot more disaster in the short term than smoking.

Smoking doesn't cause any immediate impairment - a person can smoke while he drives, works, reads, etc, and there's no mental or physical impairment at that moment. Drinking does cause immediate impairment - and you wind up with things like deadly drunken driving, violence, vandalism, etc - that's why I could buy cigarettes with impunity at 15 years old but not alcohol.

[Dont call me Shirley]

44. And yet you're old enough to vote at 18, but not drink alcohol.

[PoliticAverse]

27. And the voting age shouldn't be lower than the age for other things.

If you can't decide something for yourself you shouldn't be deciding it for everyone.

[MADem]

41. I think 21 across the board is sensible, especially given the brain development research that shows

the brain is not fully formed until age 25.

[Angel Martin]

7. I'm Mike Bloomberg

and I endorse this law.

[FLPanhandle]

8. Raise the smoking age to 21!?!

They will know better by then!

[maxsolomon]

9. why not 30?

it will save lives!

[meow2u3]

14. So what if it will save lives?

Electronic cigarettes/vapor products save lives, yet they're treated by politicians in bed with Big Pharma as if they were as bad as, or even worse, than burning tobacco.

[maxsolomon]

15. it was an attempt at absurdity

but I see it failed.

[jayfish]

19. I thought it was pretty absurd

And intentionally so.

[2pooped2pop]

10. Probably should be the same age they are allowed to die in combat

Just saying.

[TexasBushwhacker]

32. They said the said the same thing about alcohol

And that's why the drinking age was lowered to 18 during the Vietnam era. They thing is, the qualities that make a good soldier - physical fitness and the ability to take orders - can be found in an 18 year old.

But the prefrontal cortex of the brain, that controls things like judgement, risk assessment and impulse control isn't fully developed until the early to mid 20s. Expose that still developing brain to alcohol, especially binge drinking, and brain development will be affected. They changed the drinking age back to 21 and the accidental death rate went down.

If we were to be fair we would delay being able to serve in the military until age 21, but I'm sure the military wouldn't here of that.

[2pooped2pop]

37. Yep raise the military age

But those minds are easier to brainwash at 18

[happyslug]

39. 21was the age one could enlist as late as 1918.

During the Civil War you could enlist when you turned 18, but could not serve overseas till you turn 21. That remained the law till August 1918, when Congress dropped the age to be drafted to 18. I am in favor of returning it to 18.

[meow2u3]

13. Enough of the nanny state bullshit

Either you're an adult at 18, or you're a minor. I'm sick of legislators treating young adults 18-20 like minors as if they were still children in need of supervision. I'm also sick of the attitude that 18-20 year old young adults are expected to act like adults in terms of criminal responsibility, being held to binding contracts, and being asked to fight and die for their country, but are treated like children in that they can't enjoy the privileges of adulthood such as smoking, drinking, etc., without being cited or arrested.

I'd like to see some smart attorney sue on behalf of an 18-year-old smoker for age discrimination.

[47of74]

16. I totally agree.

This is getting to be bullshit. I say that if you're old enough to enlist then you're sure as hell old enough to smoke, drink. etc.

[TipTok]

17. You can go to Iraq but we do t think you are mature...

... Enough to decide about smoking.

What a load....

[briv1016]

20. I can understand raising the age to 19 so that high school kids can't buy them, but 21 is ridiculous

19 should be the age to smoke, drink and enlist.

[liberalnarb]

22. I'm so tired of this BS. Just wait, the rethugs will use this as an example and raise the voting age

[bluestateguy]

23. Great! Another nanny state law for cops to enforce.

Im sure the police departments are thrilled.

Actually, maybe they are, if this law gives them another tool to harass young and Hispanic black men.

[olddots]

24. I think smoking should be mandatory at age 24

you must smoke 7 packs of non filtered Camels a day for one year then become a forensic proctologist .Weird ? yup but so are our laws about drugs of any kind .

[valerief]

25. Cigarettes should be outlawed. They're legalized poison. nt

[TipTok]

28. How about you don't smoke and leave the rest of us alone...

[valerief]

31. How about you let me have an opinion? nt

[Travis_0004]

30. What else do we ban?

Beer? Chocolate? Twinkies?

I think adults should be free to make their own decisions. There should be a tax on smoking to fund antismoking programs, but I think adults should be able to make their own decisions.

[LanternWaste]

35. All decisions? Any decisions?

"I think adults should be free to make their own decisions..."

All decisions? Any decisions?
Or do you also begin to ad qualifiers and draw an arbitrary line at some point?

[Amimnoch]

26. This thread is breath of fresh air.

Great to see Signatures with Bernie and Signatures with Hillary agreeing on something.

[Lint Head]

29. So an 18 year old can die for the country but can't smoke? Really?

[GOLGO 13]

33. You can go to war & die for your country at 18 but can't drink or smoke till 21?

Sorry to say but yep, the Republicans are right on this. I guess porn, gambling & guns are next. Take away all the fun why don't ya?

[olddad56]

36. Yeah, the govt is really picky on how you choose to kill yourself.

[jonno99]

34. Well, if you REALLY want to cause a stir, suggest that "minors" should not engage

in sexual relations or purchase birth control - or (gasp!) be able to get their ears pierced!

(oh wait, they CAN'T get their ears pierced, or get a Tylenol from the teacher, or....)

[olddad56]

43. when I was a young, dumb kid, I started smokimg at age 12. It was never hard to get cigarettes.

But it took 20 years to wise up and stop.

[brett_jv]

47. Never knew there was an law about age w/regards to actual smoking ...

Only with regards to PURCHASING cigarettes. Me and my 15 yo friends smoked around cops with impunity all the time when I was in HS (CA in the early 1980's), and it wasn't like the cops didn't know our age was well under 18. I always assumed that was the case because there was only laws w/regards to purchasing smokes, not smoking itself.

So ... things are different now, presumably?

BTW, I'm with the Rethugs on this one, sadly.

Ex-smoker, now a vaper ... best thing I ever did for myself. I know the science is still yet to be done, but BELIEVE ME, if you've smoked for a long time, then quit and only do vapor ... you can just TELL ... it's not harming you anywhere near the way that 'analogs' aka 'stinkies' do.

When all is said and done and the numbers are in, it WILL be confirmed scientifically/statistically. As will the efficacy as a 'smoking cessation' product. At my office, 4 of us, with 70 years cumulative smoking ... went to the vape shop almost 3 years ago ... bought vaping gear ... and within 2 weeks we were all ex-smokers/now vapers. There's been a couple relapses among us, VERY brief, but that's it. You don't get 4/4 people successfully quitting smoking with ANY other cessation aid ... aside from maybe prison.

[liberalnarb]

48. Great. Next comes the voting age.