„As 18- to 20-year-olds provide young teens with tobacco and vaping products, this will reduce the number of cigarettes and vaping products in our high schools, reducing the number of children who become addicted,” said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The legislation, E.H.B. 1074, was introduced by Representative Paul Harris (R-Vancouver) at the request of the Washington Attorney General and the state Department of Health and Human Services. A bipartisan group of lawmakers from across the state signed on as co-sponsors. Senator Patty Kuderer (D-Bellevue) was the principal sponsor of the related bill in the Senate. Read Minister Wiesman`s letters to K-12 schools (PDF) and colleges (PDF). The letters contain important information about the new Tobacco and Vapour Act,21 as well as resources to support students and staff aged 18 to 20 who use tobacco or vaping products. The letter and documents referred to are intended to help institutions create a supportive and available atmosphere for students and staff interested in quitting. A recent evaluation of the new law looked at what happened when California regulators sent juvenile decoys to buy tobacco as part of compliance checks.
After the law came into force for 21 years, offences against retailers selling to young people under the age of 18 dropped by about 45%. The law does not penalize underage smokers for possession of tobacco or vaping products. There have been numerous attempts to pass a tobacco law21 in Washington State, with bills introduced in both houses in every Parliament since at least 2015. OLYMPIA, Washington. – A new law is now in force that has raised the age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21. Nearly all of the patients Bricker treated for nicotine addiction first used tobacco and became addicted when they were minors, he said, a trend reflected in large-scale research studies on smoking. In Washington State, we have laws and policies in place to protect our workers and families from second-hand smoke in public places. In recent years, there has been an explosion of teen vaping, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And although research shows that e-cigarettes contain far fewer carcinogens than conventional cigarettes, they contain a huge amount of nicotine, the addictive drug of tobacco.
One Juul Vape Pod contains as much nicotine as at least 26 cigarettes, according to a recent study. (For context, only one capsule is not vaporized at a time, as a cigarette is smoked; a capsule often lasts one or more days for users.) The law also widens the social gap between young people who can legally obtain tobacco products and those who cannot, Bricker said. The academies` report cites data showing that the majority of underage tobacco users get it from family and friends. This legislation removes legal tobacco and vaping products from most teens` high schools and social circles. 9. Campaign for tobacco-free children. State excise rates and classifications for cigarettes. www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0097.pdf. Accessed. Editor`s Note: This article originally stated that Washington was poised to become the ninth U.S. state to pass Tobacco Bill 21.
That was incorrect. Arkansas signed its own tobacco law,21 which went into effect on March 28, making it the ninth. History has been corrected. If you or a loved one uses tobacco or nicotine (such as vaping products) and want to quit smoking, there is help. Washington state is experiencing a youth vaping epidemic. In 2018, about one in five Grade 10 students and one in three Grade 12 students reported using steam products (Healthy Youth Survey). New data from the state`s Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows a decline in teen smoking rates after the law went into effect. Between 2015 and 2017, the proportion of high school students who smoked increased from 9.7% to 8.1%. That`s more than double what it was from 2013 to 2015. New York City, which raised the smoking age to 21 in 2014, also reported a decline in youth use in surveys.
However, further study did not find that these reductions exceeded reductions in other cities. „Every person who sells, sells or causes to be given away a cigar, cigarette, cigarette paper or packaging, tobacco in any form or vaping product to a person under twenty-one years of age is guilty of a serious offence.” „This bill will save thousands of lives in Washington state today,” Inslee said, citing statistics on the number of smoking-related deaths. Starting in January, Washington state will restrict the sale of tobacco and vaping products — including e-cigarettes — to people 21 and older. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill into law last week. 10. Public Health Law Centre. U.S. E-Cigarette Regulation: 50-State Review.
www.publichealthlawcenter.org/resources/us-e-cigarette-regulations-50-state-review. Accessed. „This is historic state legislation that will help keep Washington`s children away from all nicotine and tobacco products,” said Dr. Jonathan Bricker of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a smoking cessation expert who testified in favor of the legislation in January. The New York study concluded that it is possible „that the effects in New York will only be felt after a long period of time” or that the policy will have a greater impact in countries with lower tobacco tax rates. (The combined state and local government tax on a pack of cigarettes in New York is currently $5.85, nearly double that of Washington.) However, some of this simulation and modeling is supported by real-world on-site experience. Here`s what has happened so far in some places that have beaten Washington by limiting tobacco sales to those over 21. According to the Attorney General`s Office, more than 95 percent of addicted smokers start smoking before the age of 21. Washington is not the first state to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco. Several other states have passed laws setting the age of majority at 21, including California, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Hawaii.
In addition to Washington, several other states have adopted the policy this year, including Illinois, Maryland and New York.