What Does The Higher Smoking Age Mean?

The California state legislature is considering the probability of increasing the smoking age to 21, a shift that health promoters expect will reverberate throughout the United States.

The legislature, which will raise the legal age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 21, handed in the state Assembly where it's expected to be approved, before going to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's table.

Backers say raising the smoking age may keep individuals from actually picking up the custom. Ninety-five percent of smokers say they started before age 21. A fresh smoking age in California can have a ripple impact in other provinces, supporters expect. The Hawaiian Islands became the very first state in the United States to improve the smoking age to 21 in 2013. However, California's standing as the most populous state and its own background as a power in the anti-cigarette movements can further push other provinces to introduce similar laws.

California has "been a movement leader" in the anti-cigarette campaign, the American Lung Association's director of national coverage, Thomas Carr, informed The Huffington Post. "It was one of the first states to do a lot of the things that we’re now seeing many states take on.

"It had been the initial state to set up a tobacco reduction plan in 1989 as well as the first to prohibit smoking in restaurants and pubs in 1998, Carr stated. In 1990, San Luis Obispo, California, became the very first town in the country to prohibit indoor smoking at all public spaces.

Now, over 4,510 cities across the United States have passed regulations that limit smoke, the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation reviews.

NBC analyst Larry Gerston said he believes there is an excellent chance that Brown may sign the laws. "Brown is a social activist -- there’s no question about it," he mentioned. However, in terms of utilizing higher taxation in order to crackdown on cigarette businesses, California may not function as the best choice antismoking activists want. "That’s what hurts tobacco, not the age limits; it’s the taxation," Gerston stated, directing to California's comparatively reduced cigarette taxes fee.