Legal Smoking Age (MLTA) laws set the legal age at which a person can purchase or consume tobacco products.1 In the United States, Tobacco 21, also known as T21, sets the national minimum age for selling tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes (e-cigarettes), at 21. State and local smoking age laws may include additional restrictions, such as setting a minimum age for use, to ensure proper enforcement.3 Some states have introduced or expanded local tobacco control.4 It is estimated that 95% of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 211. 20. In December 2019, the President signed a law amending the Federal Law on Food, Medicines and Cosmetics and raising the minimum age for the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21. This law (known as “Tobacco 21” or “T21”) came into effect immediately, and it is now illegal for a retailer to sell tobacco products – including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes – to anyone under the age of 21. The new federal minimum age applies to all retail establishments and to persons without exception. CDC`s Tobacco Monitoring and Evaluation System (STATE) contains a wealth of information about the MLSA Act in each state and territory, as well as in DC. This information is updated quarterly and includes provisions such as minimum age of sale, law enforcement agency, and penalties for violations in each jurisdiction. According to the STATE system, prior to the passage of Federal Act T21 on December 20, 2019, 19 states, 2 territories (Guam and Palau), and DC had already passed laws increasing their MLSA for tobacco products to age 21. Since the passage of federal law T21, 20 additional states and 1 territory (Northern Mariana Islands) have increased their MLSA for tobacco products to age 21.
As of June 30, 2022, 43 jurisdictions (39 states, 3 territories, and DC) have issued a 21-year MLSA for the purchase of tobacco products, but 10 retailers in jurisdictions that have not increased their MLSA to 21 must continue to comply with federal T21. Tobacco 21 is an important part of a comprehensive public health approach to tobacco reduction. In addition to Tobacco 21, we must eliminate all flavoured tobacco products, stop online (remote) sales, and increase taxes on all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. In addition, the FDA must begin reviewing all e-cigarettes, hookahs, cigars, and pipe tobacco. 18 Silver 2016* – Silver D, Macinko J, Giorgio M, Bae JY, Jimenez G. Retailers` compliance with New York City smoke-free laws before and after raising the legal age of purchase to 21. Tobacco control. 2016;25(6):624-627. In 2009, during the administration of Barack Obama, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was passed, which again established a federal minimum age of eighteen and prohibited the FDA from setting a higher minimum age of purchase.
[8] From 1993 to 2012, the smoking age was eighteen or nineteen in all states. In 2005, the city of Needham, Massachusetts, became the first jurisdiction in the country to raise the minimum purchasing age to 21. [9] Between 2012 and 2015, local communities in the United States. began raising the smoking age to twenty-one, with Hawaii becoming the first state to increase its age to twenty-one in 2015. [10] This began the shift to states that eventually raised their age to twenty-one due to the teen vaping crisis. [11] In 2019, eighteen states had their minimum purchasing age at twenty-one, thirty states had their age at eighteen, two had it at nineteen, and the District of Columbia had it at twenty-one. On December 20, 2019, with the passage of fiscal year 2020 funds signed by President Donald Trump, the federal age for smokers was raised to twenty-one by changing the minimum age of purchase in the Synar Amendment of 1992. [12] The U.S.
Department of Defense followed suit and raised the age to buy tobacco at military bases in the United States to twenty-one. and abroad. [13] In July 1992, Congress passed the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Administration Reorganization Act, which included an amendment to reduce adolescents` access to tobacco products. This amendment, named after its sponsor, Congressman Mike Synar of Oklahoma, required U.S. states and territories to enact and enforce laws prohibiting the sale or distribution of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18 in order to receive federal subsidies for drug abuse.5 9 Schneider 2016 – Schneider SK, Buka SL, Dash K, Winickoff JP, O`Donnell L. The Community is reducing smoking among young people after raising the minimum age for selling tobacco to 21. Tobacco control. 2016;25(3):355-359. Federal T21 does not prevent state, local, tribal or territorial governments from passing more restrictive legislation than federal law, including increasing MLSA for tobacco products over the age of 21. While there is no mandate for states and territories to establish an MLSA at age 21 to comply with federal law, it may be easier and more effective for states that have increased their MLSA to 21 to ensure compliance with Synar requirements. For example, in jurisdictions where MLSA is harmonized at the federal and federal levels, there is more clarity for retailers and enforcement officers.
Data collected as part of the enforcement of national youth access laws can also be used for Synar compliance. On December 20, 2019, Congress increased the MLSA for tobacco products from ages 18 to 21. This law, known as Tobacco 21 or T21, came into force immediately, and it is now illegal for a retailer to sell tobacco products – including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes – to anyone under the age of 21.8 The new federal MHA applies to all retail establishments and persons without exception; It applies to retailers in all states, DC, all U.S. territories, and tribal lands. There are no exceptions for active military personnel or veterans between the ages of 18 and 20.8, as was previously the case in some states.9 Increasing the MLTA to 21 may reduce tobacco sales.13, 14, 15 In a Hawaiian study, T21 appears to reduce sales of cigars and menthol cigarettes, which are disproportionately smoked by people of color and youth.16 A study by Needham, MA, suggests that reductions in smoking rates and cigarette purchases are greatest during the first phase of implementation of a T21 policy, although reductions can last at least four years.9 There is strong evidence that raising the legal smoking age (MLTA) to 21 reduces tobacco use among 18- to 20-year-olds.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.20 IOM Bonnie 2015 – Bonnie RJ, Stratton K, Kwan LY. The public health impact of raising the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies; 2015. A 2015 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that 75% of the U.S. public, including 70% of current smokers, supported a minimum age to buy tobacco of 21. The FDA`s enforcement of the minimum age for the purchase of tobacco products is ongoing. To date, the agency has conducted more than 1 million compliance checks on tobacco retailers.
In the United States, laws regarding the minimum age for the purchase and consumption of tobacco products have been enacted by the states, territories, the District of Columbia and the federal government. Prior to 1992, states had exclusive authority to impose their own minimum age. These laws first appeared in the late 19th century, when New Jersey became the first state to set a minimum purchasing age of sixteen in 1883. [1] In 1920, about half of the states had their minimum purchasing age of twenty-one, and some simply prohibited “minors” (ages 14 to 24) from buying. [1] In the 1920s, due to lobbying by the tobacco industry in the United States, the minimum age was lowered from sixteen to nineteen. [1] Until 1939, all states had age restrictions for tobacco. However, these laws changed in the 1950s, with Maryland removing its age restrictions. The American Cancer Society recommended a minimum age of eighteen in 1963, the American Medical Association recommended twenty-one[2] years in 1985,[2] and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services recommended nineteen or twenty-one. [3] According to 2020 data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), nearly 1 in 4 high school students (3.65 million) currently use a tobacco product. Current tobacco use was highest for e-cigarettes (19.6%), followed by cigars (5.0%), cigarettes (4.6%), cigarettes (4.6%), smokeless tobacco (3.1%), hookah (2.7%), heated tobacco products (1.4%) and pipe tobacco (0.7%). In January 1996, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) issued the Synar Regulation to provide guidance to states.
