Utah May Be Changing The Age Of Smoking To 21
Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, has resurrected a bill that just last year already failed to get past the senate. On Tuesday, Powell presented House Bill 131 to representatives requesting they consider changing the legal smoking age to 21.
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Utah is still one of only four states with a smoking age of 19 instead of 18. Utah already has the nation’s lowest smoking rate, about 12 percent in 2011 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York City has already raised their legal age to 21, as well as Hawaii County, Hawaii.
One of the main reasons this bill failed last year was that raising Utah’s smoking age to 21 could mean that soldiers relocated to Utah would not legally be allowed to buy cigarettes here even if they’d previously been able to do so elsewhere. The argument behind the military being restricted is the ideal that anyone old enough to serve should be able to choose to smoke.
The proposal would apply to all tobacco products as well as e-cigarettes.
A House committee considered the issue Tuesday afternoon, but pushed it aside to give Powell a chance make changes. Appears there is a lot of support for the bill, but it was missing some pertinent information and clarification on cigars and smokeless products.
Other states are considering a similar bill such as California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, but no one state has yet to approve one.
