Maryland bills (HB 278 & SB 325) would increase minimum age for tobacco sales/possession to 21 years, but not for e-cigs

[Bill Godshall]

Maryland bills (HB 278 & SB 325) would increase minimum age for tobacco sales/purchase/use to 21 years, but not for e-cigs.

HB 278 (a hearing was held earlier today)
GAM-HB0278 Summary 2014 Regular Session
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2014RS/bills/hb/hb0278F.pdf

SB 325
GAM-SB0325 Summary 2014 Regular Session
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2014RS/bills/sb/sb0325F.pdf

Please note that HB 278 & SB 325 only apply to "tobacco products" and "tobacco paraphernalia", but not to e-cigs.

Back in 2012, MD banned the sale of e-cigs to minors under 18.
(MD. CODE ANN., HEALTH GEN. § 24-305)
GAM-Article - Health - General, Section 24-305

§24–305.
(a) This section does not apply to a tobacco product that is regulated under Title 16 of the Business Regulation Article.
(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, a person may not sell, distribute, or offer for sale to a minor an electronic device that can be used to deliver nicotine to the individual inhaling from the device, including an electronic cigarette, cigar, cigarillo, or pipe.
(2) This subsection does not apply to a nicotine device that contains or delivers nicotine intended for human consumption if the device has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
(c) A person that violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000 for each violation.
(d) In a prosecution for a violation of this section, it is a defense that the defendant examined the purchaser’s or recipient’s driver’s license or other valid identification issued by an employer, government unit, or institution of higher education that positively identified the purchaser or recipient as at least 18 years of age.

 

[MTFogger]

I am opposed to banning anything to age requirement above 21 as long as this country and our politicians can send anyone 18 years of age to war....

 

[rothenbj]

I am opposed banning anything to age requirement above 21 as long as this country and our politicians can send anyone 18 years of age to war....

I'll second that. If you don't have the mental capability to decide you want to do something that might kill you decades later, how can you make the decision to do something that could cost you your life within a year.

 

[Bill Godshall]

For more than two decades (during the 1980's, 1990's and up until 2002), Pennsylvania's minimum age for cigarette sales was 21 years (while the minimum age for OTP sales was 18). I discovered and exposed that law back in 1990 when drafting legislation to reduce cigarette sales to minors (as PA's law simply stated that it was illegal to sell cigarettes to any minor, and then I discovered that PA's legal definition of a minor is age 21 unless otherwise stipulated in the statute). PA had another different statute that banned the sale of any tobacco product to a minor under 18 years.

The PA legislature lowered the age to 18 in 2002 after CTFK, ACS, AHA, ALA urged them to do so (in collaboration with the large cigarette companies, PA tobacco retailers, then Gov. Mark Schweiker, and then State AG Mike Fisher) as part of legislative deal that criminalized and authorized prosecution of minimum wage retail clerks (not cigarette retail licensees) who were caught illegally selling tobacco to youth. Ohe week after the legislature enacted that law, Gov. Schweiker awarded the PA ACS $15 million (without issuing an RFP or competitive bidding process) of tobacco settlement money to advertise and operate the state's quit line (for smoking cessation, which gave callers government subsidized NRT products for free or at reduced cost).

I continue to strongly support a minimum age of 21 for cigarette sales (because cigarettes are highly addictive and lethal), but age 18 for smokeless tobacco, cigars, pipe and OTP (and-cigs) because all of the latter products are far less hazardous than cigarettes.

Besides, an excellent way to educate the public that cigarettes are far more hazardous than OTP (and e-cigs) is to set the age for cigarettes at 21, and age 18 for OTP.

For the same reason, cigarette taxes should be far higher for cigarettes than OTP, and marketing regulations should be more restrictive for cigarettes than OTP. And that's the same reason why I convinced Sen. Mike Enzi to amend the TCA (back in 2007) to require color graphic warnings covering 50% of all cigarette packages (but none for packages of smokeless tobacco or RYO).

 

[MTFogger]

Reminds me of the saying "Ovem lupo commitere".