The US Congress voted in favor of raising the minimum age to buy tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 across the country. This move intends to stem the rising tide of youth vaping. It may also keep a watch on increasing incidence of substance abuse. Passed by the Senate as part of the budgetary bill, it will take effect next year and will mean that tobacco and e-cigarettes will join alcohol as substance that are prohibited to purchase for those under the age of 21.
Nineteen of the country’s 50 states and the capital Washington DC already have set 21 as the minimum age. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, who co-sponsored the bill along with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said that he is proud that Senate approved the legislation including the Tobacco-Free Youth Act to combat this urgent crisis and keep these dangerous products away from our children.
There is a skyrocketing popularity of vaping among young people, who have turned away from traditional cigarettes and alcohol to use e-cigarettes. The bill helps to combat this challenge.
About 28 percent of high school seniors were found vaping in the last 30 days according to a government survey for the year 2019, compared to just 11 percent in 2016.
Another benchmark survey published, called Monitoring the Future, showed that 52 percent of high school students said they had consumed alcohol over the last year, against 73 percent in 2000.
This summer an acute lung illness epidemic killed more than 50 majority of them were young people and sickened more than 2,500.
This illness was later found to be connected to a substance called vitamin E acetate, which is used as a thickening agent for vaping products that contains the main psychoactive substance of cannabis -- called THC. It is often sold on the black market.