Minimum Smoking Age To Be Raised to 21
On April 7, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill raising the minimum age for tobacco use to 21. The change will take effect on the first day of July this year.
Similar legislation has been signed in 10 other states and Washington D.C. Only two states, Alaska and Arkansas, have smoking ages of 19.
Though smoking rates among teenagers have been trending downwards for decades, fears that e-cigarettes and vaping will reverse the trend have prompted these regulations.
Approximately three-quarters of Americans support changing the smoking age from 18 to 21, citing the majority of addicts who start smoking below age 21 and the broad success of this legislation in reducing smoking rates.
The laws have been criticized for various reasons, such the possibility of inadvertently creating a market for illegal tobacco products or hurting small business owners.
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