Colorado Lawmakers Seeking to Ban Teen Smoking

February 4, 2014
NACS Online
The proposal would increase the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21.
​DENVER – A bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers is seeking to make Colorado the first state to ban teen smoking, the Associated Press reports.
The lawmakers are backing a proposal that they plan to introduce this week that would raise the tobacco minimum age limit from 18 to 21. The bill would apply to cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes and tobacco vaporizers.
“You have to [be] 21 to gamble. You have to be 21 to drink. You have to be 21 to smoke marijuana. Why are we not consistent about tobacco?” said Sen. Steve King, one of the bill’s sponsors.
“Tobacco is equally as harmful, really, and maybe more so,” said Rep. Beth McCann, who leads the House Health, Insurance, and Environment Committee, and who plans to sign the bill as a co-sponsor.
The bill is expected to set off a spirited debate, one that is likely to be as bipartisan as the group that supports the bill.
People who are currently between the ages of 18 and 20 would be grandfathered in, meaning the measure wouldn’t be fully implemented until today’s 17-year-olds are 21. “We don’t want to cut ‘em off cold turkey,” McCann said.