The New York City Council has voted to raise the legal age for tobacco buyers from 18 to 21 years in an attempt to keep young people from smoking.
If the law is implemented, New York will become the first city to raise the legal age to buy tobacco, a council statement revealed. It also passed measures Tuesday, to set a $10.50 minimum price for a pack of 20 cigarettes or little cigars, ban discounting of tobacco products, and increase fines for illegal and untaxed sales.
"This legislation will reduce smoking rates among New Yorkers -- especially young New Yorkers -- sparing them years of nicotine addiction and health problems," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Democrat, said in the statement, according to NY Times.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been trying to curb smoking and this move by the New York City Council complements his efforts. The mayor has worked with the council on various occasions previously including raising tobacco taxes and making restaurants and bars smoke-free.
"By increasing the smoking age to 21 we will help prevent another generation from the ill health and shorter life expectancy that comes with smoking," Bloomberg said in a statement following the vote, according to Washington Post. "It's critical that we stop young people from smoking before they ever start."
Quinn proposed raising the legal age to buy tobacco products way back in April, revealing more than 20,000 public-high school students in the city use cigarettes. New York's youth smoking rate has been 8.5 percent since 2007. Raising the legal age will cut smoking rates among 18 to 20 year olds by up to 55 percent.
More than 80 percent of the city's adult smokers start before age 21, according to Health Commissioner Thomas Farley. New York, with about 8.3 million residents, is the largest metropolis in the U.S. Setting $10.50 minimum prices for packs of cigarettes and little cigars won't stop young people from smoking and will instead drive consumers to illegal sellers, a retailer group said. A group of convenience-store operators said the new rules would lead to fewer jobs.
"Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Council could be feeding our businesses to the black marketeers who sell tobacco products illegally at lower prices," Thomas Briant, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, said according to Bloomberg.
