No more nicotine? U.S. government raises age to buy tobacco to 21

seanmburch
Student smoking a cigarette at the University of Denver after new law is passed.
[Photo by Sean Burch]

Congress signed a law raising the age to purchase tobacco products last month. Now, like alcohol and cannabis, one must be 21 to purchase tobacco products. President Donald Trump signed H.R.2411 – Tobacco to 21 Act, into law on Dec. 20, 2019 and it became effective immediately.

Over the past year there have been an increase in deaths and illnesses caused by underage tobacco and nicotine use. A NY Times (NYT) report lists 2,506 lung injury cases that required hospitalization and 54 deaths caused by vaping, or the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs).

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2 thoughts on “No more nicotine? U.S. government raises age to buy tobacco to 21”

  1. Jake Anthony Gloth's avatar Jake Gloth February 4, 2020 / 1:31 am

    It’s a very interesting story. Being in college I know a lot of people that do use nicotine products, and I will be interested to see how they change their habits. It would be nice if they stopped, but I agree with Feldman in that they will likely just find away around the law.

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  2. sadieabraham's avatar sadieabraham February 4, 2020 / 6:04 pm

    This topic is super relevant to our college demographic right now. It is interesting to see how the recently changed tobacco laws affect DU students. It seems many of them have found ways to get around these laws. I think this says a lot about how established nicoteine habits among underage students can exist despite the legislation agaist them.

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