Virginia Lawmakers Approve Higher Tobacco Buying Age

February 15, 2019
NACS News
Both houses in the General Assembly approved 21 as the new legal smoking age for all tobacco forms, including e-cigarettes.
RICHMOND, Va. – This week, Virginia House legislators voted to raise the state’s tobacco buying age to 21, a few weeks after the Virginia Senate approved a similar bill, the Washington Post reports. Gov. Ralph Northam, who as a state senator pushed for the prohibition against smoking in Virginia restaurants, hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign the measure or not.
“We certainly know the majority of kids in high school who are getting vaping products are getting them from older students,” said Del. Chris Stolle, who sponsored the House bill. The law “will get it out of those friends’ hands, which we think is a significant source . . . because once they’re addicted, we’ve lost them.”
In West Virginia, a similar bill is in a Senate judiciary committee and in the House health and human resources committee, the Washington Times reports. The West Virginia bill also includes tobacco and vaping products.
The Altria Group, with its headquarters in Richmond, supported the measure. Six other states and the District of Columbia have restricted the sale of tobacco to those 21 and older. Earlier this week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report suggesting that electronic cigarette use is on the rise among middle and high school students. The agency reports that nearly 5 million middle and high schoolers used some form of tobacco last year.