By weeks end, Congress is expected to pass a $1.4 trillion spending package.
Tacked onto the bill is a measure to raise the age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21. The measure has wide bipartisan support in both the House and Senate as well as the presidents blessing.
The measure makes the Tobacco 21 effort passed by more than a third of U.S. states and hundreds of communities including Iola! the law of the land, with a three-year phase-in.
No opposition against the measure has been mounted.
For almost 50 years weve known tobacco kills.
Raising the age to 21 is expected to result in a 12% decline in tobacco use, saving 230,000 Americans from a premature death, according to a 2015 report by the National Academy of Medicine.
Most people hooked on tobacco say they started before the age of 19.
WHILE THE legislation goes a long way in keeping youth from becoming addicted, it would be even better if it also banned the production of flavored vaping products.
Unfortunately, lawmakers and the president have caved to Big Tobacco, which, naturally, manufacture e-cigarettes.
Once promoted as a safe way to kick smoking cigarettes, vaping has now been determined harmful and addictive. The Federal Drug Administration was beyond negligent when it allowed such products to flood the U.S. marketplace before being adequately tested. As of Dec. 10, more than 50 deaths have been attributed to vaping with thousands hospitalized.
Little is known of the long-term damage from vaping.
What is certain, is that an entire generation is becoming addicted to the potent nicotine used in vaping products.
One in four high-schoolers report vaping regularly, according to the Centers for Diseases and Control. Health officials call it an epidemic.
Teens, especially, are lured to the products kid-friendly flavors such as cotton candy or grape slushie.
