Tobacco 21: Raise the Age

The increasing popularity of e-cigarettes among teens is a public health risk that must be addressed. We need Monroe County to join the 19 localities in New York State that have already raised the purchase age of nicotine products to age 21.

Working locally, we can protect our kids and our communities, while encouraging the state to do the same. Here’s why we can’t wait for New York State to act:

Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States.
Over 6,900 New York adolescents will become new daily smokers this year.1
Despite the US Surgeon General’s warning that nicotine causes neurological damage in young adults and primes youth for future addiction,2 teens are quickly embracing new vaping devices like Juuls and JuNos that are easy to use and conceal, and which contain unregulated nicotine levels.
Youth e-cigarette use is strongly associated with subsequent use of combustible tobacco products.3
The health and economic cost of allowing another generation to become nicotine-addicted are intolerable and inexcusable.

We ask that you take immediate action to raise the minimum legal sales age for tobacco and other nicotine-based (either natural or synthetic nicotine) products to age 21.

1 https://tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-us/new_york
2https://ecigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/documents/2016_SGR_Full_Report_508.pdf
3 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2579858