Legal Age of Nicotine

Young brains are sensitive to the addictive properties of nicotine because their brains are still developing. A purchase age of 21 is consistent with alcohol laws. Raising the legal drinking age to 21 has helped reduce drunk driving deaths and reduce alcohol dependence among adolescents. A recent study found that people who start smoking regularly between the ages of 18 and 20 are more likely to become addicted to nicotine and less likely to quit smoking than people who start smoking at age 21 or older.3 These findings are consistent with a 2015 report from the National Academy of Medicine, , which provides that raising the legal age of sale (MLSA) for tobacco products from 18 to 21 or 25 years is likely to significantly reduce the prevalence of smoking and smoking-related deaths.4 This fact sheet describes federal and state laws that set minimum age requirements for tobacco sales. * With respect to tobacco purchases, Mississippi state law prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing tobacco products or nicotine alternatives (including e-cigarettes). However, for tobacco sales, Mississippi only prohibits the sale of alternative nicotine products (including e-cigarettes) to anyone under the age of 21. Because the Mississippi MLSA for cigarettes and other tobacco products remains at age 18, Mississippi is not counted among the states that have increased their MLSA within the STATE system to 21. Since 2012, various jurisdictions around the world have legalized recreational cannabis. In Mexico, Uruguay and jurisdictions where cannabis can be purchased, the legal age to possess or purchase cannabis is the same as the age to purchase tobacco (18 in Mexico and Uruguay and 21 in the United States). In Canada, the legal age to possess or purchase cannabis is 19 in all provinces and territories except Alberta (18) and Quebec (21).

There are therefore three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan) and two territories (Northwest Territories and Yukon) where the age to purchase tobacco is below the age of possession and purchase of cannabis, and one province (Prince Edward Island) where the age of tobacco purchase is higher. Prior to December 2019, when the U.S. raised the age of tobacco purchase to 21 in all states and territories, several U.S. states had a tobacco purchase age below the age of cannabis possession and purchase. On December 20, 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. In December 2019, a Federal Tobacco Law 21 was passed, raising the national purchasing age for all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21. This legislation places the burden on the retailer by making it illegal to sell tobacco products to minors under the age of 21. This law is generally enforced through fines and protects young teens from accessing tobacco products through friends they can legally buy.

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 With the passage of federal T21, there have also been corresponding updates to the Synar program. To receive their block drug grants, states and territories must now report illegal sales to people under the age of 21, whether or not they have increased their own MLSA to 21.5 It is illegal for minors to buy, consume or possess tobacco products in public Minors caught red-handed typically receive a warning or a $30 fine. with their school and parents and the school`s follow-up actions. Minors arrested more than once must attend at least two smoking cessation counseling sessions to aggravate their crimes. Minors who do not meet the above requirements, or if arrested four or more times, may be charged in court and, if convicted, fined up to $300. [107] Covers all types of tobacco products: cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, electronic nicotine delivery systems (including e-cigarettes) and hookahs.

It is illegal to sell or give tobacco products directly or indirectly to minors, and anyone caught doing so will be subject to severe penalties. The momentum accelerated as cities and states across the country began raising their legal age for selling tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Nineteen states and D.C. have passed 21 tobacco laws. Since the federal law was passed, 14 other states have passed laws raising their state`s selling age to 21 in November 2020. The legal smoking age is the minimum legal age to purchase or consume tobacco products. Most countries have laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco products to people under a certain age, usually at the age of majority. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Many high school students would live to age 18 — the previous legal age to buy tobacco and e-cigarettes in most states — during their senior year of high school. They often bought tobacco and e-cigarettes for young students. According to 2020 data from the National Youth Smoking 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%).

18 (de jure purchase) 16 (public ownership and de facto purchase) The FDA will update our website and other documents, including our regulations, in the near future to reflect the change in the law. Does not discriminate against underage tobacco users for the possession of tobacco products. Instead, the responsibility is placed on retailers and usually enforced through fines. In 2009, Congress enacted the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act), which gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broad powers to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and sale of tobacco products. As passed, it applied to cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco.6 In 2016, the FDA established a rule that extended its regulatory authority to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, and hookah and pipe tobacco.7 Following the adoption of this rule, No tobacco product could be sold to a person under the age of 18. Raising the age of tobacco purchase would ensure that older high school students and young students would not be able to buy tobacco products for young friends. This can prevent or delay the onset of smoking in adolescents. In the summer of 2019, the FDA released the Digital Age Verification Schedule as part of the voluntary “This is Our Watch” retail education program. Retailers using the FDA`s “This is Our Watch” digital age verification calendar can update the minimum age of purchase in the calendar to 21.

Retailers who want a “This Is Our Watch” digital age verification schedule can order one for free from the FDA`s Center for Tobacco Products Exchange Lab. 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 for buying tobacco at military bases in the United States and abroad to twenty-one.

[13] The minimum age to purchase tobacco in the United States prior to 2019 varied by state and territory. As of December 2019, the smoking age is 21 in all states and territories after the federal law passed in Congress and was signed by President Donald Trump in December 2019.