It’s now illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase cigarettes in the United States. President Trump recently signed legislation that many thought would take a minimum of nine months to implement. The Federal Drug Administration says the law is in effect “immediately” primarily due to the “vaping epidemic” which peaked this summer causing more than 2,500 people to fall ill nationwide last year.
Catherine Tolar, a pharmacist with The Medicine Shoppe in Two Rivers says that she supports this law. “Since there has been this epidemic amongst younger people, especially those that have been under the legal age to buy tobacco, I think that’s who this law is really trying to target…I think this law will hopefully set in place a mindset change. We want to help protect kids and prevent them from even starting. It’s hard to quit. I used to be a smoker, it is very hard to quit. Why would we want our kids to have to go through that?”
With the new law, states where the legal age to purchase cigarettes was 18 years old, had just a matter of days to comply.
All flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes, with the exception of regular and menthol, are banned. There have been 55 confirmed deaths in 27 states from vaping including three in Wisconsin.
