Minimum Age Raised to 21 for Tobacco, Nicotine Purchase
Abstract
Though some advocates are concerned about how the new rule will be enforced, the higher age limit may help prevent youth from smoking and keep nicotine out of schools.
As part of an overall spending package that was signed into law last December, the minimum age for purchasing all nicotine and tobacco products was raised to 21. The provision came as an amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Soon after the signing, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for implementing the law, posted on its website, “It is now illegal for a retailer to sell any tobacco product—including cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes—to anyone under 21.”
The change comes after 19 states and 500 cities and towns have already raised the age to 21.
In an email, Jill Williams, M.D., chair of APA’s Council on Addiction Psychiatry, said increasing the minimum age to purchase nicotine products to 21 could prevent young people from starting smoking.
“In combination with other efforts, we hope this [new law] further reduces smoking levels over time,” says Jill Williams, M.D.
“There is growing evidence that vulnerable youth are more likely to start and continue smoking,” said Williams, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at the Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Numerous factors can cause a young person to be considered vulnerable, she added, including having a mental health condition.
Delaying the onset of nicotine use, Williams said, “seems to be related to less likelihood over the lifetime that someone will continue smoking and perhaps even make it easier to quit.”
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse 2019 Monitoring the Future survey, regular cigarette use has declined among teens. Last year, 2.4% of 12th graders said they smoked cigarettes daily, compared with 3.6% in 2018. However, 11.7% said they vaped nicotine daily in 2019, “the first year daily vaping use has been measured,” according to the agency’s website.
The Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation (PTAF), which runs the Tobacco 21 advocacy campaign, said in a statement that, while it is gratified that the minimum age to purchase nicotine and tobacco products was raised to 21, “[t]he FDA must dramatically revamp its enforcement protocol if raising the age is to have any substantial effect.
“There remain 31 states that have not yet enacted Tobacco 21 at the state level,” the statement continues, “and nearly half of the 19 enacted states have weak and largely unenforceable laws, leaving kids in the crosshairs of targeted marketing and sales by unscrupulous purveyors.”
“We know what works, we have multiple states and cities doing a good job, and we will be pressuring the FDA and the new commissioner to reconsider their enforcement protocol,” said Rob Crane, president of PTAF and a clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Ohio State University. Among their requests is a requirement that tobacco retailers be licensed.
The New York Times reported that the push to increase the minimum age was backed by several tobacco and e-cigarette companies, “as part of a business campaign to soften the public backlash against marketing that appealed to minors.” ■
