Cigarette Age To Be Increased To 21 In The District

Grace Palo

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser plans on signing new anti-tobacco laws that will increase the smoking age to 21 and regulate electronic cigarettes like traditional ones. This will make D.C. one of the many jurisdictions that is trying to decrease the influence of nicotine.

Last week, Bowser signed legislation making it illegal to “vape” electronic cigarettes inside public places where lighting up tobacco is already illegal, including places like bars, restaurants and workplaces. Vaping and smoking on the outdoor patios of these establishments is still allowed.

According to Bowser’s spokesman, she will also sign bills in order to increase the tobacco age from 18 to 21 and to ban the use of chewing tobacco at Nationals Park and other sporting events.

“This legislation will build on previous Administration efforts to promote healthy and active lifestyles and improve health outcomes for District residents for years to come, especially among our youth who often become overly exposed to tobacco products at an early age,” Bowser spokesman Kevin Harris said in a statement.

The prohibitions on public vaping could take effect as early as next year after a 30-day congressional review period, while the chewing tobacco ban would be in early spring. But for now, teenage smokers can continue to buy cigarettes without trouble for nearly another year.

The District needs to find more than $1 million a year to make up for lost sales tax revenue before this can be implemented though. The next budget takes effect in October 2017, and officials say they don’t expect any problems funding an estimated $13 billion budget.

This new law comes as the popularity of e-cigarettes grows while public health experts declare them to be dangerous, threatening to reverse all social education gained from health campaigns and stigma surrounding cigarettes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a significant increase in high school students using e-cigarettes, from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2015. Some studies suggests those teens are then more likely to become conventional smokers. Research shows more than 90 percent of tobacco users started when they were minors.