A group of public health advocates is working on legislation for next session to raise the age for buying tobacco products and electronic cigarettes to 21 years old.
The Tobacco Free Coalition, which includes the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, is crafting a bill it wants the Kansas Legislature to consider next year. The legal limit is now 18.
The bill is not expected to be ready until later this year, so details about enforcement and penalties are still not known.
While smoking has been declining among Kansas high school students since 2005, there has been a rise in the use of electronic vapor products, or e-cigarettes, which are designed to deliver nicotine and other additives through an aerosol that’s inhaled.
A Kansas Health Institute report showed that in 2017 about 17% of Kansas high school students used cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco or an electronic vapor product. Nationally, it’s 19.5%, the report showed.
However, the same report showed that about 35% of high school students had at least tried an electronic vapor product and about 11% had used it within the past month. About 1.5% said they use it daily.
On a national scale, e-cigarette use increased 78% among high school students during the past year, from 11.7% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2018.4, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.
The numbers are worrisome for health advocates who want to raise the age for tobacco products in hopes that it will not only curtail smoking but also curb electronic cigarettes that are used by an estimated one in five high school students and one in 20 middle school students nationwide.
Just this week, the Centers for Disease Control announced it was working with various state health departments to address pulmonary illnesses possibly linked to e-cigarette use among adolescents and young adults.
The CDC is investigating about 150 possible cases of serious lung illnesses in 15 states, including neighboring Iowa, from June 28 to Aug. 20.
The CDC and the states haven’t identified a cause, but all the reported cases have involved e-cigarette use or “vaping.
On Friday, health officials in Illinois were investigating what could be the country’s first “vaping” death.
“Its’ reaching epidemic levels,” the American Cancer Society’s Jordan Feuerborn said of the rise of electronic cigarettes.
“We’re doing what we can to try and prevent that and 21 is a significant age because we know most people start before that,” said Feuerborn, the cancer society’s government relations director in Kansas.
“If you’re able to prevent a young person from ever picking up a tobacco product before 21, typically they’re not going to start,” she said.
The idea of going to 21 even has the support of Altria, which owns cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA.
“Kids should not use or have access to tobacco products, including e-vapor products,” the company said on its website.
“After decades of decreases in the underage use of tobacco products, use of e-vapor products among kids increased to alarming levels in 2018. This is unacceptable,” the company said.
It adds, “We believe that raising the minimum age to 21 to purchase tobacco products is the most effective action to further reduce underage tobacco use and reverse rising underage e-vapor usage rates.”
Eighteen states and at least 480 local governments have already passed laws raising the tobacco age to 21, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
The only state near Kansas that has adopted a 21-year-old age requirement is Arkansas. The Arkansas law starts Sept. 1.
However, 23 cities across Kansas, including many in the Kansas City suburbs, have set 21 as the legal age for tobacco products.
While a statewide law would keep youths from skipping across local government lines to buy tobacco products, the issue may be dealt with nationally.
Two U.S. senators from tobacco-growing states – Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Tim Kaine of Virginia – are pushing legislation to raise the age for buying tobacco to 21.
The legislation would outlaw selling tobacco products to anyone under 21 in all states. A Senate committee signed off on the bill in June.
“The growing popularity and accessibility of tobacco products like e-cigarettes and vapor products are endangering America’s youth,” McConnell said the day after the bill was approved in committee.
“We want to put a huge dent in these pathways to childhood addiction and help get these products out of high schools altogether,” he said.
In Kansas, a bill raising the age for tobacco would affect almost 250,000 Kansans under the age of 21, the Kansas Health Institute Report showed.
State Sen. Gene Suellentrop chairs the health committee in the Senate. He favors raising the age.
“We have a vaping issue for youngsters that we need to address some how,” the Wichita Republican said. “I think this is just one step of addressing that health problem. We have a serious problem of under-age 18 kids getting material and not knowing what’s in it.”
State Rep. Brenda Landwehr chairs the health committee in the House. She has some reservations about raising the age limit.
She questions how effectively the current law is being enforced and wonders how well a new age requirement would work.
“I don’t think it does what people think it’s going to do,” the Wichita Republican said. “If we’re not stopping them now under 18 years of age, how are were going to stop them under 21 years of age.”
