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Congress to Consider Raising Tobacco-Buying Age to 21
Wall Street Journal ^ | April 18, 2019 | Jennifer Maloney

Posted on 04/19/2019 4:58:45 AM PDT by reaganaut1

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to introduce legislation raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 from 18, a move that public-health advocates and tobacco companies hope would curb the use of e-cigarettes among youths.

More than a dozen states have passed or enacted laws raising the minimum age to 21 and others are considering doing so. Sen. McConnell’s announcement Thursday follows the introduction earlier this month of similar bills in the House.

Altria Group Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC, the two biggest U.S. cigarette manufacturers, both support an increase of the minimum age to 21, as does Juul Labs Inc., a startup whose e-cigarettes are blamed by health officials for a surge in underage smoking.

Laws raising the age to 21 “fight one of the largest contributors to this problem: sharing by legal-age peers,” Juul Chief Executive Kevin Burns said.

Youth use of e-cigarettes jumped 78% from 2017 to 2018—to one out of every five high-school students—thanks largely to the popularity of USB-shaped vaporizers made by Juul.

The increase has prompted a regulatory crackdown on the e-cigarette industry. The Food and Drug Administration in March issued new sales restrictions that will effectively ban convenience stores and gasoline stations from selling most flavored e-cigarettes. The passage of a bill raising the legal age nationwide to 21 could alleviate that regulatory pressure, analysts say.

“For some time, I’ve been hearing from the parents who are seeing an unprecedented spike in vaping among their teenage children,” Sen. McConnell said, adding that his bill would exempt military-service members. The Kentucky Republican said he would introduce his bill in May.

Altria, which makes Marlboro, has been lobbying for the move at the state and federal levels

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cigarettes; mcconnell; mitchmcconnell; nannystate; tobacco
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I don't support this. Freedom matters, even the freedom to do unhealthy things. And if the government should discourage unhealthy things, why does it now endorse sodomy through the recognition of same sex marriage?
1 posted on 04/19/2019 4:58:45 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

Won’t that cut into their revenue? The feds make more on a pack of cigarettes than do the manufacturers...


2 posted on 04/19/2019 5:03:29 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: reaganaut1

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to introduce legislation raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 from 18, a move that public-health advocates and tobacco companies hope would curb the use of e-cigarettes among youths.

Don’t our Congress vermin have anything BETTER to do than find new ways to restrict people’s rights?


3 posted on 04/19/2019 5:04:31 AM PDT by Pravious
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To: reaganaut1

Legalize pot, illegalize cigarettes, Dems are insane


4 posted on 04/19/2019 5:06:51 AM PDT by TonytheTiger7777
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To: reaganaut1
For the government...it's still all about money.

Buy a patch, gum, e-cigs...They created all these secondary markets and collect ridiculous taxes associated with these products.

And soon we'll all be able to buy marijuana...and they'll collect mucho taxes on that, too.

They don't give a sh** about your health...they make money on that, too.

5 posted on 04/19/2019 5:07:29 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: TonytheTiger7777
Legalize pot, illegalize cigarettes, Dems are insane

Maybe Marlboro needs to add a little somethin' somethin' to their cigs...

6 posted on 04/19/2019 5:08:26 AM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: jeffc

Yes, but they can make more money from creating criminals by doing this.


7 posted on 04/19/2019 5:09:28 AM PDT by dforest (Just shut up Obama. Maybe everyone should just shut up!)
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To: TonytheTiger7777

But smoking pot is gooooooooooooooood!!!!!


8 posted on 04/19/2019 5:09:36 AM PDT by ronnie raygun (nic dip.com)
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To: reaganaut1

So, they’ll need ID to smoke.

But anyone can vote.

Sooner or later, folks, we’re going to have to take this up with congresscritters.

Behind the shed.


9 posted on 04/19/2019 5:13:17 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: reaganaut1

No smokes until 21 but smart enough to vote at 16?


10 posted on 04/19/2019 5:14:41 AM PDT by Libloather (Global warming is AWESOME!)
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To: reaganaut1

I get your point, but allowing those people to be in monogomous married relationships prevents spreading disease. It’s the closet gay congressmen that meet in bathroom stalls at the airport when their wives are out of town that we need to worry about ha


11 posted on 04/19/2019 5:18:26 AM PDT by Nomad577
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To: reaganaut1
Good move. But kids are kids. They'll still do whatever they have to do, to feed their addiction.

It is ironic, though. To murder an unborn child? Do they also have to be 21?

12 posted on 04/19/2019 5:23:45 AM PDT by LouAvul (Freedom without responsibility is chaos. Next step? The Abyss.)
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To: reaganaut1

Are you an adult or a child at 18? If we let people vote at 18 we’ve made the call that they are adults, thus ALL benefits and responsibilities of adulthood should be demanded. We don’t need a helicopter government for helicopter children.


13 posted on 04/19/2019 5:26:35 AM PDT by rhombus10
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Dear Congress

Reset everything to 21. Everything that comes under legal congressional purview.

Vice purchases (questionable)
Military Service (not questionable)
Voting (not questionable)
Taxes (what do I know?)
SSN’s (what do I know?)
Vehicular operating licences (what do I know?)

The last two might have Congress painted into a corner.

The e-vile plan might not be do-able unless taxes and SSNs for minors are recinded.

But I am certainly no expert on the matter.

At 18 put all minors (the legal age is 21) into prep training for advanced education AND mandatory conscription upon reaching 21.

The motto is “Serve the Country, Not Yourselves).

Nobody gets nothing unless they have skin in the game.

Snark! (But perhaps not)

I need more coffee.


14 posted on 04/19/2019 5:27:17 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.)
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To: reaganaut1

If booze, smokes and guns are 21.

Voting should be too.


15 posted on 04/19/2019 5:31:16 AM PDT by cableguymn (We need a redneck in the white house....)
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To: jeffc
Won’t that cut into their revenue? The feds make more on a pack of cigarettes than do the manufacturers...

The government is constantly sawing at the wrong side of the tree branch. When they come tumbling to Earth, they blame the saw.

16 posted on 04/19/2019 5:35:23 AM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: reaganaut1

E cigarettes, the gateway drug to...water vapor.9


17 posted on 04/19/2019 5:38:42 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneow)
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To: reaganaut1
This is an excellent example of how distant our legislators have strayed from their Constitutional duties. Next up: legislation to limit the colors of crayons.
18 posted on 04/19/2019 5:39:17 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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To: reaganaut1

So this is the important work that he’s doing instead of trying to get our insane government spending and open borders under control. What a freakin joke. This is exactly the type of thing that should be left to the states.


19 posted on 04/19/2019 5:39:40 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: Clutch Martin
Nobody gets nothing unless they have skin in the game.

I've been saying for years that we should go back to requiring land ownership to be permitted to vote. It's not a popular opinion, but I don't see how it's a bad idea.

Every year we get our tax schedule from our county, some from the state too, and we attend meetings to discuss matters surrounding local taxation, and then we pay those taxes. People who rent or crash on mom and dad's couch don't have a clue. Then when they get jobs and get out on their own, they rage against whoever is in office in DC without understanding how taxation, or even representation, works.

Being a citizen in a Constitutional Republic is not meant to be easy. It's meant to be deliberative, critical, and slow-moving. The march toward popular democracy is terrifying, because it's the singular step needed to allow ne'er-do-well politicians the leverage required to turn the wheels of American government fully toward socialism.

20 posted on 04/19/2019 5:41:19 AM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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