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Here's a story that just makes our blood boil. A City Council committee is preparing a bill that would raise the age for buying cigarettes from 18 to either 19 or 21!
We can't describe how much we completely disagree with this idea. That anyone in the city would consider this when there is already a huge problem keeping underage kids from drinking is just ludicrous. Luckily, at least, Gotham's most famous anti-smoker is against the idea. "The mayor is not in favor of raising the legal smoking age," Bloomberg spokeswoman Virginia Lam told the Daily News. "He supports efforts to help curb underage smoking and to expand smoking cessation programs."
We found the words of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment founder Audrey Silk summed our opinion up pretty well: "These politicians would be more than happy to put their arm around an 18-year-old and say, 'Vote for me.' Eighteen-year-olds are smart enough to do that. But they aren't smart enough to use a legal product." What do you think of the idea of raising the age to purchase smokes?
Take A Break by Atomische.com via Contribute.
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Smoking is stupid, and so is this proposed law.
Why don't we drop the drinking age back down to 18 again? That'd probably be too much of a mindfuck for the puritans in the country though.
If cigarettes were introduced today they'd never get past FDA approval. While obviously this measure probably would have limited results, even if it stops a few kids from such a self-destructive practice, then it's done something right.
Yes, one could argue that these are adults and it's their decision, but as we know, smoking doesn't only impact the smoker alone.
Funny, I know exactly where that picture was taken and the amount of people who stand out there and smoke is freakish.
If you're old enough to fight in Iraq in the U. S. army, you should be able to smoke.
i propose we outlaw smoking in the streets. I have to walk past the outside of buildings too. Smoking should only be allowed in special bars on high roofs.
so when do you become an adult, nowadays? i thought we agreed decades ago that it was at 18 years old.
also, i can imagine kids going to nassau county to get smokes!
here in toronto, the drinking age is 19 and i think it works just fine. a city the size of chicago, university students can drink like they should be able to, people rely on public transit so there isn't drunk driving, and there is something for young people to do.
I'm a father of a teenager who thinks i'm an idiot for smoking; hey she's right but, I'm offended that they would consider limiting her rights further.
You can vote, drive, serve on a jury, and serve your country - you should be able to drink and smoke if you want to.
I am absolutely in favor of raising the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21, and the drinking age should stay at 21 as well.
Fighting in Iraq has nothing to do with it, nor does underage drinking.
lets try to remember what is feasible. Raising the age will do nothing but just make underage smoking more illicit, not less prevalent.
If you're over the age where you're considered an adult, you should be able to handle yourself responsibly with drinking and smoking. If you can't, and you're over the age (in the case of drinking), pay the consequences.
They're honestly wasting valuable time and money by considering this law. And second-hand smoking argument is mostly political, not scientific. In my opinion, banning smoking entirely is a condescending action. We're adults, we know the risks, we can make our own descisions and when we do we pay the consequences.
smoking sucks. i should know i've been doing it since i was 13. but does the drinking age of 21 curb people underage from drinking? Also, I never had a problem buying cigarettes under the age of 18: either I was not carded (this is even when i wore braces and when i had older people buy them for me.)
I could honestly say that if I had been carded every time I was a 13 year old kid to buy cigarettes I might not have started smoking them because they were such a pain in the ass to get. Enforce the law as it is now and there is no need to dienfranchise current "adults"
That's stupid, raising the age limit isn't going to solve anything. This is coming from a person who hates smoking. Americans need to stop being such pansies and looking for things other than themselves to blame their problems on.
I am absolutely in favor of raising the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21, and the drinking age should stay at 21 as well.
Fighting in Iraq has nothing to do with it, nor does underage drinking.
How does fighting in Iraq have nothing to do with it? Why not just make the drinking, driving, smkoing, fighting, and marriage age 16, 17, 18. 19, 20, or 21? This is just ridiculous. When exactly are we adults?
legislation will not stop people from smoking. the insane tax on cigarettes isnt forcing people to stop, and neither will this.
If it makes cigarettes just a little harder to access that's not such a bad thing.
They should be outlawed altogether but of course, the tobacco lobby is too powerful for that too happen.
everyone I know should just stop smoking.
and for those who have I am so proud cause cigarettes are an awful waste of money, not to mention the whole killing you slowly business.
that being said, raising the age limit = pointless.
I am in favor of giving everything at 18. This extended adolescence breeds immaturity and idiocy well into the 20s. And dying in Iraq has everything to do with the fact that we trust you with a gun and life-and-death decisions over other people, but not with yourself and your own body.
It doesn't matter when you become an adult.
Many people remain stupid till they die, no biggie.
They should be outlawed altogether but of course, the tobacco lobby is too powerful for that too happen.
Yeah... the billions of dollars in tax revenue per year has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Maybe this one will be as successful as the bar ban... you know, the one that made it impossible to walk down the street without choking down smoke rather than having it just be contained in the bars like it used to be.
Were the age to be raised to 65, we could be pretty damn confident that few, if any, of the smokers would develop lung cancer. As usual, our thinkers are thinking too small.
NWJ
What a great idea!!! I always say that if you're old enough for social security, you're old enough to smoke.
Mom
111
Why is it legal to smoke in public but not drink?
A little consistency by our policy-makers would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath.
We need one age by which a person is considered an adult - not separate legal ages for consensual sex, military service, drinking, smoking, driving, etc.
For those people who believe smoking can keep them thin--take a another look at that photo.
"They should be outlawed altogether but of course, the tobacco lobby is too powerful for that too happen."
yeah, that totally wouldn't create an insanely lucrative black market or anything.
Companies are leaving the City, Outsourcing jobs outside of NYC is getting commonplace, Education needs help, Thank The Stars, the City Council takes on the Tough issues like the Smoking Age.
...
Wish Everyone had as much free time as the City Council does!
While this is another dumb law that should never be passed, I fear for the future of this country when you have people making absurd comments such as "it doesn't matter about this or that... you're stopping smoking." How would you like it if I took away your rights? Once a person is 18 years old, s/he should be allowed to do what any other adult can do. I'm fed up with people thinking they can tell any 18 year old that s/he can't do something simply because it's not safe or because s/he isn't "mature" or "smart" enough. Smoking should either be allowed or not. Any restrictions on minimum age above the age of 18 is complete discrimination, and anyone who supports minimum age restrictions over 18 is a pathetic, heartless, fascist individual. Sure, it may be great to stop smoking, but telling an adult that he can't smoke is treating him as if he were sub-human. I'm 18, and anyone trying to treat me as if I'm incapable of making decisions (when I can be prosecuted in a court of law for making poor decisions) needs to drop the nanny-state mentality.
I think there should be a minimum age for posting comments. Let's say 19.
Gothamist - can me make that happen?
Ow, foxy ladies!
But seriously, people are going to do what they want, whether it's on the street or in their apartment. Unless the US gets as strict as Singapore, you'll have to dodge smokers, spitters, and other offenders on the street. I say, let them smoke. Everyone knows it's bad for you, so if people continue willingly, let's consider it population control.
I've always thought that raising the minimum age (every year) was the only way to rid our society of the curse of smokers.
Smoking is a nuisance to everyone around the smoker. The smoker gets a pathetically mild high (at first), those incredibly attractive yellow fingers and vomit breath, followed by years of pointless addiction and health problems.
How exactly is it worth pissing everyone else off, just for this? If you're old enough to want to smoke, you're not old enough to make any kind of decision for yourself. The city should ban it in all public places, including outside.
Well, I'm 16 at the momment and I have no problem getting my tobacco products. There very easy to obtain. As simple as walking into the store and asking for them..
Some student are stubent.I do not know why small kids like to smoke.At my school,the grade 2 and 1 already know how to smoke!!!!
UNBELEIVEVABLE!!!!!!!