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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Proposal: Raise tobacco age to 19
Nov 14, 2006, 17:06
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Legislators would ban selling tobacco to anyone younger in Onondaga County. Onondaga County lawmakers will begin discussing Wednesday whether to become the third county in New York state to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco to 19. Robert Warner, R-Van Buren, and Lovie Winslow, D-Syracuse, who joined forces to pass legislation that banned smoking from public places, plan to launch their proposal before the Health Committee, both said Monday. A draft of the law proposes banning merchants from selling cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, powdered tobacco or other tobacco products to customers younger than 19. Herbal cigarettes, flavored tobacco products called "bidis," rolling papers, pipes and bottled waters laced with nicotine would be included. Fines would remain $300 to $1,000 for a first offense, and $500 to $1,500 for subsequent violations. The county Health Department would remain the enforcer. Warner said he was inspired after seeing younger teens smoking with older peers in front of local high schools. "We all know the hazards of smoking," Warner said. "Why not give our young citizens another year to decide whether to go down that path?" Winslow, a breast cancer survivor, said she wants to fight cancer "wherever I can." Wednesday's meeting will be the first exploratory step toward documenting the experiences of other areas that have raised the tobacco age and persuading the community and Legislature to follow suit, she said. Suffolk and Nassau counties are the only two in New York to raise the tobacco age to 19, a year higher than the state's mandatory 18. The New York City council is considering two proposals, one to raise the age to 19, the other to 21. Nationally, Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah make 19 the statewide legal age. Proposals to raise New York's minimum to 19 have failed several years running. The New York Association of Convenience Stores opposes raising the purchase age because it doesn't address the problem, President James S. Calvin said. Research shows that most underage smokers get cigarettes from adults, not older teens, and raising the minimum age will not affect Native American enterprises, Internet vendors and bootleggers who combine to sell half the cigarettes statewide, he said. It makes more sense to make it illegal for minors to possess tobacco and send them to smoking cessation programs when they are caught, Calvin said. Advocates of raising the age limit cite studies showing that about three-quarters of adults who smoke daily started before they reached 18. While other factors prevent drawing a direct link, youth smoking drops when communities raise the tobacco age, said Dr. Cynthia Morrow, Onondaga County's health commissioner. Morrow said she will speak in favor of raising the age at Wednesday's meeting. "Hopefully, the merchants will understand that if this passes, it is an effort to protect our youth," Morrow said. "Hopefully they will be supportive."
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