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NYC proposes raising age for cigarette purchases to 21.


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#1 Zinix

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:15 AM

After years of striving to set a national agenda for curbing smoking, New York City may set a new bar by becoming the most populous place in America to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes to 21. A new proposal would increase the threshold from 18, a federal minimum that is the standard in many places. Four states and some communities have raised the age to 19, and at least two towns have agreed to raise it to 21.

But a change in New York would put the issue in a big-city spotlight, as the city did by helping to impose the highest cigarette taxes in the country, barring smoking at parks and on beaches and conducting sometimes graphic advertising campaigns about the hazards of smoking. Another proposal, floated last month, would keep cigarettes out of sight in stores.

City officials and public health advocates have praised the city's aggressive stance on smoking as helping people live better, while smokers and cigarette sellers have at least initially complained that various restrictions were nannyish and bad for business — a debate that may well be reprised over the age limit. The measure aims to stop young people from developing a habit that remains the leading preventable cause of death, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said as she announced the plan Monday. Eighty percent of the city's adult smokers started lighting up before they were 21, officials say.

"Our responsibility today is to do everything we can to reduce," the number of young people who start smoking, Quinn said. But a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores suggested the measure would simply drive younger smokers to neighboring communities or corner-store cigarette sellers instead of city stores. Smoker Audrey Silk said people considered old enough to vote and serve in the military should be allowed to decide whether to use cigarettes.

"Intolerance for anyone smoking is the anti-smokers' excuse to reduce adults to the status of children," said Silk, who founded a group that has sued the city over previous tobacco restrictions. Advocates for the measure say the parallel isn't voting but drinking. They cite laws against selling alcohol to anyone under 21. With support in the City Council and the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the measure has the political ingredients to pass. A hearing is set for May 2.

Smoking has become less prevalent overall in New York City over the last decade but has plateaued at 8.5 percent among the city's public high school students since 2007. An estimated 20,000 of them smoke today. The age limit is already 21 in Needham, Mass., and health officials have agreed to the same change but not yet implemented it in another Boston suburb, Canton. A similar proposal is on hold in the Texas Legislature. City officials cited statistical modeling, published in the journal Health Policy, that estimated that raising the tobacco purchase age to 21 nationally could cut the smoking rate by two-thirds among 14-to-17-year-olds and by half among 18-to-20-year-olds over 50 years. Texas budget officials projected a one-third reduction in tobacco product use by 18-to-20-year-olds.

 

 

 

'

 

http://news.yahoo.co...-152353491.html

 

 

Please let this happen... 


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#2 routerbad

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:26 AM

Aaaaaand it won't change anything, changing the law to raise the bar doesn't affect the people who are already purchasing and smoking cigarettes illegally anyway.



#3 Hank Hill

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:30 AM

How about proposing to axe cigarettes altogether. Cancer in a tube shouldn't be sold.


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#4 Zinix

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:30 AM

How about proposing to axe cigarettes altogether. Cancer in a tube shouldn't be sold.

Government makes too much money for that to happened, it's a false reality. 


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#5 Hank Hill

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:35 AM

Government makes too much money for that to happened, it's a false reality. 

 

Switch it to electronic cigarettes then.


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#6 routerbad

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:51 AM

How about proposing to axe cigarettes altogether. Cancer in a tube shouldn't be sold.

This is a shortsighted and naive statement.  Governments do not own people and rights are not granted by government.  If it makes a person happy to smoke, regardless of what you think of it, then so be it.  Also, while smoking is linked with cancer, it does not "cause" cancer, it only increases certain risk factors for people that are genetically predisposed.



#7 Gaymer

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:53 AM

Even if this passed, it most likely wouldn't do anything. I've seen way too many children asking adults to buy cigarettes for them. Hell, I've been asked to buy some for these kids. Of course, I flat out rejected. But if people want to slowly kill themselves, then let them.



#8 routerbad

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:55 AM

Government makes too much money for that to happened, it's a false reality. 

It isn't about how much money they make on it, and taxing it ever more is the best way they can think of to try to promote cessation.



Even if this passed, it most likely wouldn't do anything. I've seen way too many children asking adults to buy cigarettes for them. Hell, I've been asked to buy some for these kids. Of course, I flat out rejected. But if people want to slowly kill themselves, then let them.

NEWSFLASH:

 

Non smokers die every day.



#9 Gaymer

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:56 AM

It isn't about how much money they make on it, and taxing it ever more is the best way they can think of to try to promote cessation.



NEWSFLASH:

 

Non smokers die every day.

? I never implied that smokers were the only ones that died every day. As I already said before, I have no problems with smokers. If they want to smoke, then let them.


Edited by Gaymer, 23 April 2013 - 07:39 AM.


#10 Hunter

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 07:08 AM

Yeah raising the smoking age won't make a difference. They raised it to 18 here and it didn't really change much, I still see 14, 15, 16 and 17 year olds smoking.

 

What does have an effect imo, is raising the cost of smoking by increasing the tax on it and banning smoking in public/enclosed areas. I know plenty of people who quit because "it costs too much" and because they were sick of having to go outside to smoke.

 

Also, I agree with routerbad, if someone wants to smoke then let them. It is their choice.



#11 Alex Wolfers

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 07:55 AM

They are still going to smoke anyway so why does 3 years hurt? I say it's an attempt to attack smokers.

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#12 routerbad

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:24 AM

? I never implied that smokers were the only ones that died every day. As I already said before, I have no problems with smokers. If they want to smoke, then let them.

I know, just pointing out that smokers aren't the only ones killing themselves.  The minute we accept government stepping in to ban something "for the common good" it won't be long before anything the government thinks isn't good for you starts getting banned.  Hell they're already doing that in New York, with sugar tax, trans fat ban, and drink size limits.  Bloomberg thinks he knows better than everyone else, and that he makes better choices with your life and your money than you can.  Government does this in other ways as well.  CAFE standards that don't actually reduce but increase fuel usage, corn subsidies that raise food prices all over the country and force farmers to grow more corn regardless of demand so it can be used in ethanol production that reduces fuel mileage and causes more engine wear, and is not compatible with some fuel tanks.



#13 Alex Wolfers

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:27 AM

I know, just pointing out that smokers aren't the only ones killing themselves.  The minute we accept government stepping in to ban something "for the common good" it won't be long before anything the government thinks isn't good for you starts getting banned.  Hell they're already doing that in New York, with sugar tax, trans fat ban, and drink size limits.  Bloomberg thinks he knows better than everyone else, and that he makes better choices with your life and your money than you can.  Government does this in other ways as well.  CAFE standards that don't actually reduce but increase fuel usage, corn subsidies that raise food prices all over the country and force farmers to grow more corn regardless of demand so it can be used in ethanol production that reduces fuel mileage and causes more engine wear, and is not compatible with some fuel tanks.

Have you ever studied prohibition in school? We all know what that causes....


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#14 Gaymer

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:28 AM

I know, just pointing out that smokers aren't the only ones killing themselves.  The minute we accept government stepping in to ban something "for the common good" it won't be long before anything the government thinks isn't good for you starts getting banned.  Hell they're already doing that in New York, with sugar tax, trans fat ban, and drink size limits.  Bloomberg thinks he knows better than everyone else, and that he makes better choices with your life and your money than you can.  Government does this in other ways as well.  CAFE standards that don't actually reduce but increase fuel usage, corn subsidies that raise food prices all over the country and force farmers to grow more corn regardless of demand so it can be used in ethanol production that reduces fuel mileage and causes more engine wear, and is not compatible with some fuel tanks.

Oh, yeah. I'm in no way, shape, or form in support of the government slowly taking away our rights. We have to draw the line somewhere. Next thing they'll start limiting how many groceries we can purchase or what to buy. It's getting ridiculous and I am scared to think of how the country is going to end up in the future.



#15 routerbad

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:30 AM

Have you ever studied prohibition in school? We all know what that causes....

Black markets, organized crime violence.



Oh, yeah. I'm in no way, shape, or form in support of the government slowly taking away our rights. We have to draw the line somewhere. Next thing they'll start limiting how many groceries we can purchase or what to buy. It's getting ridiculous and I am scared to think of how the country is going to end up in the future.

It scares me as well.  I see people's rights eroded every day, and its terrifying because those people have started to accept it lock stock and barrel, and actually believe that governments are the source of our rights, which couldn't be farther from the truth.



#16 Alex Wolfers

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:32 AM

I say keep the smoking age at 18 and legalize pot for ages 21+


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#17 Kokirii

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:40 AM

Aaaaaand it won't change anything, changing the law to raise the bar doesn't affect the people who are already purchasing and smoking cigarettes illegally anyway.

 

You're right!  And people still commit theft, murder, and every other crime, so obviously we shouldn't have any laws at all!  It makes perfect sense!


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#18 Alex Wolfers

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:47 AM

How about proposing to axe cigarettes altogether. Cancer in a tube shouldn't be sold.

What about the countless lives that are destroyed by alcohol? Try banning that and see what happens. I think you guys should get off your moral high horses and realize there isn't anything we can safely do about smokers without starting trouble.


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#19 Byakuya Togami

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:49 AM

I say keep the smoking age at 18 and legalize pot for ages 21+


What's the difference? Marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes.

Also, it should be 18+ for everything. You're an adult, you can go and fight and die for your country yet you can't purchase alcohol and other vices?

#20 Zinix

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:49 AM

It's all a matter of the choice in the end. I'm not for peoples' right being taken away, but people need some awareness of what they do their bodies.  

 

EDIT: Thinking further, most of what you're saying is true. Kids would still be able to get their hands on cigarettes.  


Edited by Zinix, 23 April 2013 - 08:50 AM.

“Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete.”— Rod Serling, “The Twilight Zone” The Obsolete Man

Smoke meth. Hail Satan. Watch the yearly Twilight Zone marathons. Talk to dead people. Everyone is gay. Ignore people. Live life to the fullest.





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