When you're 18, you're considered a legal adult. You can vote, purchase property, serve in the military...but if Congress gets its way, you won't be able to buy tobacco for another 3 years.
Congress appears ready to ban the sale of all tobacco products – including cigarettes and e-cigarettes – to anyone under 21 as lawmakers and public health experts increasingly worry about the rise in youth vaping.
We’ll have a better idea of the reality when the House votes on a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown today – that’s where the provision is stashed. The Senate then has until Friday to pass the measure...and get it to the President. Will he sign? Last year, he said he supported raising the smoking age...so time will tell.
I personally think it's ridiculous. Don't misunderstand: I have never smoked and I actually think it's gross... I watched last year as my grandfather took his last painful breaths after a lifetime of smoking cigarettes. Translation: I'm not a fan, and I think it's shocking that people still choose to smoke even after finding out how horrible it is for your body. But that's not the point.
The point is that Congress doesn't need to be making any more laws governing the personal choices of private citizens. We all know tobacco is harmful, but if you're an adult and choose to use it anyway, that's your decision. They can pretend it's about protecting children, but I don't buy it. It's already illegal for teens to buy tobacco and nicotine products, so how will raising the age to 21 going to change that? By somehow making it more illegal? Give me a break.
Not to mention that it's mindboggling to me that we'll stick an 18 year old in a uniform and send him/her overseas to fight and potentially die for his/her country, but then say it's too dangerous for him/her to smoke or drink? That one gets the mother of all eyerolls.
I personally think that we as a society need to pick an age--ONE AGE--where a person is considered an adult, and then that person can legally do everything-- smoke, drink, vote, buy a firearm, buy a house, enlist in the military, whatever. There are states (California) saying that the voting age should be lowered to 16, but then in the same breath, say that the smoking age should be 21. How does this make sense? You're either old enough to make adult decisions or you're not.
Sorry for going off on a rant here, but I just think it's insane! I will stand by your ability to make choices for your own life, even if I don't agree with those choices. This is America, and freedom is what we do here.