Age to buy tobacco raised

The Feds just raised the age to purchase tobacco and vaping products to 21 from 18. I'm 68 and never smoked so this has no effect on me but I'm curious how others view it.
You can drive a car at 16. Join the military and marry at 18. Get free condoms and abortions without parental consent in high school. Vote at 18 with some wanting to change the age to 16. Buy alcohol at 21. Stay on your parent's health insurance until 26. At what age does the government believe a person is capable of making a mature decision and should the government even make the determination? I'm sure I'm not the only person confused by this.

Not just join the military, but has to register for selective service at 18 (for men).

The government doesn't want people making their own decisions.

You are not alone corky.

I find it troubling that we will give young men the tools to wage war on a monumentally destructive level yet feel they aren't capable of making the choice to smoke or drink.

As a former tobacco user I say it's a good thing.....but as someone who believes in individual freedom it's a bad thing.

The 16 to drive one I'm ok with.. The smoking and drinking thing I understand they want at 21 to keep it out of the high schools.. Like that has ever worked.
My personal thought on it is if they truly want to regulate it at the high school. Make the age 19 for all that stuff..I hate the picking and choosing what they call and adult. We all know every kid is different and don't act the same at same age.. Pick one age for that adult word and quit chasing it around depending on what their applying it to..

Mac

Thank goodness kids under 21 can't get ahold of tobacco now, same as alcohol, marijuana, recreational drugs, etc. More laws keep everyone safe.

i started using tobacco regularly when i was 12. sometimes i had to lie and tell a store clerk it was for a parent. most didnt care. need to repeal any law that puts the burden of enforcement on a minimum wage earning convenience store clerk.

first time i bought a firearm at retail store was on my 17th birthday. bought it at a gibsons. 12 gauge shotgun. showed the clerk my driver license and said its my birthday. the clerk didnt catch that it was my 17th birthday. so when i filled out the form the gun control act of 68 required i took a year off my birthday. the clerk didnt catch that either. nobody is more resourceful than a kid who wants to buy something. all those age limit laws need repealed. is there anybody reading this who thinks high school kids cant get all the booze and tobacco they want?

From a smoker, if it keeps just one kid from ever smoking its fine by me.

Back when I was in school there was a designated smoking area for the kids that smoked.

My hero was the marlboro man when I was a kid. i still miss tobacco. I think when I reach the end of my life, if I dont tip over sudden, I'm going to take up chewing again.

Raising the age to purchase tobacco was passed as part of the spending thing that just got passed. Approved by the democrat house, republican senate, and republican president. It pretty much flew under the radar due to the impeachment stuff. Good example of two opposing political parties with different stated goals, but the real joint unstated goal of oppressing freedom.

Well said! They are all Freedom gobblers.

Okay so let's look at this from a realistic stand point. This is a feel good move by politicians. The problem is teenagers vaping. So we raise the age for buying cigarettes to 21. That makes perfect sense to me. How exactly does that affect the problem. If you want to have an impact on the problem pass laws that hold retailers that sell to under age folks accountable and enforce it.

didnt like short hair though. my kids still tease me about that. i had just gotten my air force discharge. was enjoying not having a haircut regulation

As being raised in the second largest tobacco producing state I can remember as a kid old farmers asking "Haven't you started smoking yet?" You didn't worry about age as long as you were tall enough to put 25 cents in the machine and strong enough to pull the lever you got your cigarettes. Yes, I raised tobacco till the program went out in 03.

19 year olds make stupid decisions - I did. But, stupid decisions is how I learned to stop making so many stupid decisions. I can see both sides but the war on drugs has proven that making something illegal doesn't stop anyone from getting or using it.

I'm disgusted by the new war on vaping. Vaping is stupid but people are going to do stupid things and giving those who are addicted to nicotine a less stupid option seems like a good thing to me.

individual liberty has been willingly given up. drug laws. (that includes alcohol and tobacco), zoning laws, hiring laws, age limit laws, permit and license laws, firearm laws, on and on and on all in the name of saving people from theirself.

I say we need a little more natural selection again. Time to bring back personal liberty and let people live or die with the consequences of their choices. When somebody CHOOSES not to work their neighbor should not be forced to support them. Without government healthcare people could afford health care. Cost would come down or providers would be out of business. Free markets are a good thing.

All these government protections do is make things worse.

my 20 yr old pipeliner son was refused to buy a lighter yesterday.

I am not upset at all by the age to smoke matching the age to drink , that actually makes sense been saying for a while while the two should match.

what doesn't make sense is not raising the age to vote and military service , you are an adult or your not . if you can not be trusted to use tobacco and alcohol with restraint then how can you use your vote with restraint how can you use your M4 with restraint.


yes I realize some can , some can at 16 or 17 , but they want to change age of responsibility then raise the age of responsibility.
I was living on my own at 17 and in college , I had a wife and house at 21. as they keep telling me Pete your the exception.
well everyone wants to be a kid longer sure all age of responsibility can go to 21.

it really doesn't matter the kids just mail order their vape and pot , edibles , THC vape juice, the USPS is the largest single drug dealer in the country right now.

Their should be some decision made. Are you an adult at 18 or 21? I'm fine with either but it should be all or nothing. You can die for your country at 18, you can enter into legal contracts at 18, you can be tried as an adult at 18. But you can't drink, smoke, buy a handgun or get a carry permit until 21 (at least in my state) It's a crock! Either you an adult or your not, make up your dam mind.

How about the states that want to legalize "recreational" pot, but raise the purchasing of tobacco age to 21? That's crazy!
For the military, if you are willing to serve our country putting your life on the line, this shouldn't apply to you.

Freedom gobblers is right. Total nonsense. More fat kids than smokers. I’m sure all the teenagers can’t wait for the alcohol commercials during the Super Bowl. This Buds for you

I thought stuff like this was supposed to be a State issue? Maybe the congress should spend some time reducing the deficit?

There are those of us that are In their 50s and have yet to even start thinking like adults. LOL

I have lived in the largest tobacco growing state for 73 years and grew up in the county with the largest allotted acreage. I worked in tobacco fields as a kid then in warehouses during the summer semesters in college. My family grew tobacco and all smoked - except for me. Go figure.

I sold life insurance for 16 years and saw the mortality tables for smokers and non smokers. It was a fact, yet it sure made most smokers mad. It is factored into our health insurance, unfairly in my opinion. There was a time when smokers paid more for health insurance also. Every smoker had a gripe about a friend who died of cancer and didn’t some or a smoker who lived to 85.

Why do we have speed limits. Because it benefits society. Why do we penalize speeders when they are caught. Because it benefits society.

exactly , although I will admit from a regulatory and enforcement position having 18 year olds in high-school with minors does present some issues.

we had a young lady here turned 18 and saw money to be made or friends to be made it is unclear if she was actually making any profit buying vapes for a whole lot of freshmen and sophomores who then got caught being stupid with the vapes she bought them.

this is the primary argument behind 21 as the age is because anyone you went to high-school with is out by the time you turn 21. not because they are wildly more responsible but because it limits the access to those under 18 more.

that said from what my daughter who is 18 and a high-school senior tells me many of the girls in her class have 21-28 year old boyfriends so they found their way. with the internet they have no problem meeting 21+ men who are looking for a 16-18 girl friend.
if they are willing to risk Statutory rape why would they worry about drugs, alcohol or smokes.

How come a 14 year old can be charged as an adult when a crime is committed, but cannot buy a beer or consent to sex? We are never going to have a perfect legal system. I say err on the side of individual liberty. 14 year olds have parents. Yes some parents are worthless but more laws wont fix that. Anybody think kids are better off in and out of foster homes till they are 18 then dumped in the street? Anybody think a 15 year old that wants a cigarette wont get it because it is illegal?

I despise all tobacco use. Its all a disgusting, expensive habit. My dad died from lung cancer, drowning bit by bit is a terrible way to die. Part of the romance for a kid is going against the establishment and being able to so without getting caught. With kids that may be the challenge that draws them in. With that said I think the government is ignorant trying to tell you are not old enough to make a life or death decision, but you are old enough to die for your country at 18.

Why do we have speed limits. Because it benefits society. Why do we penalize speeders when they are caught. Because it benefits society.

Why are our vehicles registered for 120mph? The fastest you can go legally is 80mph?

Society owns the roads. They don't own people. Why do they care if you hurt yourself?

We all got it comin. No one here gets out alive.

You are joking right ???

This was a test. Age to buy any firearm or ammo will be next.

Mike

Sadly I think your right .

time to start making everything

I worked at a factory for a few years. There was a safety guy, whose job was to identify and correct any hazards in the plant. It started off ok and he found some legitimate concerns. As time wore on, he was going wayyyy overboard and hampering employee moral and production, but...he had a job to do. Point being, these people will never stop. The anti’s, the pc crap, all of it. They’ll never one day say “we’ve done it, our work is finished”. There is no end game. They won’t succeed in banning trapping and go back to normal. Like a liberal black hole, they’ll continue to eat your freedom and independence. After trapping...hunting. After hunting...fishing. After fishing ...regulations for how to keep a pet. After smoking...how much red meat you can consume. After red meat...sugar and on and on and on. A line will have to be drawn somewhere. They will not stop wanting to stop you from doing something. There is no end game. They want your life to be just as they say it should be.

They should have raised the age to 81

Same here.

BTW, you can enlist at 17, with parental consent, as I did.

A preacher's daughter was a hot date.

We had one of those, too. Off the school grounds. The principal used to go out about every morning and drive the smokers back across the line.

A lot of this makes no sense to me. I'd assume a lot of people who want to lower the voting age also voted for this. Be consistent.

"The current near-hysterical preoccupation with safety is at best a waste of resources and a crimp on the human spirit, and at worst an invitation to totalitarianism. Public education is desperately needed."

Michael Crichton M.D. Harvard Medical School

I had to show my license at a “RiteAid” pharmacy.....to buy a lighter to light my torches.....LMAO....I almost walked out...but I needed that lighter to get a job done...

do you ever feel like everyone around you is operating out of the 1944 CIA field manual for disrupting the enemy through simple sabotage https://www.cia.gov/news-informatio...tured-story-archive/simple-sabotage.html

did i tell ya about the beaver i found eatin my sumac trees today??

They should just decide on a date, and anyone born after that date can't buy tobacco products ever. It would slowly make them go away.

Still laughing at this after reading all the other replies. Thanks Gary.

Some of you anti tobacco guys are either missing the point or are liberal crackpots too, the age thing look at the age thing and it's inconsistency- oh and the fact that government is invading your life and stealing your freedom of choice too. It always amazes me how many anti freedom people we have on this forum.


Thought for the week. Should be a sig line.

Yep.

I started dipping Copenhagen at 13 even though it wasnt legal til 18. So I dont see it helping as far as young people starting.

Boys, your Savior Donald J. Trump signed the bill. Big time protector of liberty....

He will do something on guns before November. Remember you heard it here.

It was a small part of the last minute spending bill from the Democratically controlled House. Would you have preferred an extended government shutdown ?

I would have preferred an extended shutdown not just for the tobacco age thing, but for the gun violence research thing too, and the fact the gov't spends waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much in general, but Democrats learned a powerful lesson when Trump caved at the last extended shutdown after not getting money for the border wall, so I can probably guess how another shutdown would go. Both sides blame the other side and say they won't cave, and then after a while the thing gets signed anyway and both sides claim victory.

If you had never used tobacco, and were 21 tomorrow, would you start smoking and dipping?

how do you make people wait till their 21?

A fella can't buy a can of spray paint at Walmart if you're under 18 . That stops graffiti from being painted on concrete bridges.

We would be much better off as a society if we just minded our own business on most things and let people do what they want as long as it didn't do more than harm someone's feelings.

Keith

It's sad when the people that claim to be conservative cry as much as the Democrats. Hope we get trump another term just to hear you cry some more.

· "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Conservatives used to believe this.

That's the thing. I mean seriously, I don't give two shakes of a rotten rats behind what other people do. You can get that freak Flag flying high, don't care at all. If your not hurting someone else then have at it. I believe in Freedom, individual Freedom is to me the most precious personal right, yes, it's a right not a privilege. I am continually shocked at how many people, some on here too, that are ok with a Government telling you what you can and cannot do when it comes to what is personal individual Freedoms. You people who support the tobacco mandate are helping the ones taking the small tiny bites out of the Elephant, WTG.

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the Black flag, and begin slitting throats."

HL Mencken

Mike

We are going to regulate ourselves into complete slavery. Both Republicans and Democrats have their own special lists of things that "need to be banned."

I am probably in the minority but, I feel if you're old enough to fight and die for your country, you:re old enough for all of it. I find it ironic that society is wasting all this money on trying to stop smoking/ vaping on one hand and then turning around and spending all this time and money trying to legalize marijuana. Individual freedom of choice, you can't smoke i a resturant but you can in a bar, etc.

This conservative didn't sign a bill that infringes on freedom AND that gives the feds a blank hot check.

What's really sad is that the only conservatives left are the ones that oppose your Savior.

The US has many social programs designed to provide protection to its citizens on a shared cost concept. Medicare and Social Security are probably the best known but we have hundreds of programs designed this way. Farm programs, National Flood insurance, veterans programs, welfare, food stamps, the list goes on and on.

Health Insurance used to be medically underwritten. Pre-existing conditions would drive up the cost to an applicant. Tobacco use carried a heavy premium. If you were a recreational pilot, a scuba diver, a skydiver, similar levies were applied to health and life premiums. Even your occupation mattered. Your race mattered.

Since Obama reformed our health insurance industry, ratings are mostly a thing of the past. This means non smokers are subsidizing health and Medicare benefits of smokers by paying the same premiums. That is a heavy financial burden. Non smokers are subsidizing the extra healthcare, disability, loss of work, home fires, and increased mortality of smokers. My wife has a relative that dropped out of high school because he could not sit in class without a cigarette. He is now a burden on society. Say thank you, if you use tobacco.

Unfortunately we cannot stay out of everyone’s business because not everyone we are caring for is making good decisions and I doubt our laws will regress a 100 years. It is who we are as a nation. We take care of each other. We defend each other. We lend to each other, and we insure each other, even tobacco users.

That's a (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) good question, I mean - if you can join the U.S. Army at age 18 and go on to become a Ranger..... I mean - are they going to raise the age one can enlist - or be drafted ??
To me, by raising the age to smoke or vape [neither of which I do or ever did], along with the 21 drinking age - all that does is encourage kids to start doing illegal things that much sooner.
It's a bad situation - like - lets make owning guns illegal, so only the bad guys have 'em.....

Makes me really wonder just how free of a society we still are today.

But I get it - you have all these mush heads in their late 20s, early 30s who still ain't gotta a clue while when I turned 18 [1983...] it was expected of me to become a productive member of society and support myself a.s.a.p. and know my career path.

Today... ha ha the kids ain't got a clue, but that I blame their parents for..............

Yup. Same here.

Soon tobacco will be near illegal and marijuana will either be legal de jure or de facto.

Yep and that's where the left wants ya. Just sit back, puff puff pass, and we'll take care of ya. Academia is their buddy. There's gonna be a lot of people, some on here, that are gonna wake up one morning and say oh (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman), what just happened. I don't have any Freedom now. Well hello there.....

Texas raised it to 21 except for active military. I haven't talked to a single Officer that will enforce this if they are 18 or over. Darn prosecutors need to start hammering career offenders and dont need to be overwhelmed with such trivial crap. They cant even prosecute the voluminous felonies we get within a timely manner so this was a waste of ink and paper not to mention the time to write such asinine legislation. I dont use tobacco products and dont want them around me but for goodness sake get the hec to work on something that will actually make a difference in this screwed up state and country.

Charles, I agree 100%.

"In 1995 the Republican Congress repealed the 55-mile-per-hour federal speed limit law. At the time, the highway safety lobby and consumer advocacy groups made apocalyptic predictions about 6,400 increased deaths and a million additional injuries if posted speed limits were raised. Ralph Nader even said that "history will never forgive Congress for this assault on the sanctity of human life."
But almost all measures of highway safety show improvement, not more deaths and injuries since 1995. Despite the fact that 33 states raised their speed limits immediately after the repeal of the mandatory federal speed limit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported last October that "the traffic death rate dropped to a record low level in 1997." Moreover, the average fatality rate even fell in the states that raised their speed limits.
Higher speed limits have not caused one million more auto injuries. In fact, in 1997 there were 66,000 fewer road injuries than in 1995, the year before the speed limits were raised. The injury rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled fell to its lowest level ever recorded in 1997. If the injury rate on the roads had been as high in 1997 as it had been in 1995, approximately 17,000 more Americans would have been injured on the roads.
All of the evidence thus far indicates that Americans have not responded to higher speed limits by converting the highways into stretches of the Indianapolis 500. Any loss of life has been very minimal--and at most a tiny fraction of what had been predicted by the safety lobby. Meanwhile, Americans have saved some 200 million manhours in terms of less time spent on the road. The net economic benefit of raising the speed limit has been between $2 and $3 billion a year. "

Never mind being a Ranger... I guarantee there is some 19 y.o. kid doing a rotation in a Minuteman silo who we trust to turn his key if ordered to do so.

"Hey kid, we trust you with thermonuclear weapons... But Marlboros are above your clearance."

Mike

Speed limit got changed in the 80's not the 90's. It passed on a Friday. I was hauling a load to Denver out of SOCAL. Highway workers in NM were changing signs on Sunday in a snow squall. Monday they started changing signs to 65 in CO. (65 was max at first) CO local tv news that night was saying CO was the first to change the speed limit. They were not. NM had been changing signs over the weekend. Believe it or not both states were still very republican and pro gun.

First '87 raised some, then '95 eliminated the Federal mandate.

"Congress passed the 55 mph speed limit law in 1973 to save gasoline during the Arab oil embargo. In 1987, Congress raised the speed limit to 65 mph on rural interstates.< "

Breaker breaker 19, I'm lookin for the Rubberduck, come back. Rubberduck, you got your ears on, come back.

before cell phones cb was a very important tool. Break down you could holler at the next truck and get a ride to a pay phone or maybe borrow a tool you needed to get rolling. Law enforcement monitored channel 9. those old 23 channel radios were legal at twice the output of cb sold today. highway patrolman also monitered 19 in their cars. They literally saved lives. People were a lot politer back then. Wasn't all that incredibly filthy and or rude talk on them like today. Get a flat on a trailer or a brake light quit working or something another driver would tell you about it. They really were a good tool.

Yes indeed danny. Another example of good days past!

When the speed limit was dropped to 55, a casket maker in Fabien TX went out of business. Now we have much safer automobiles with multiple airbags and crumple technology. Highways are safer also.

The spray paint thing isn't just about Graffiti I thought that too until I went to a medical call where the person still had paint around his nostiles from huffing that crap..
Took two young men off a ledge on the bluff in the dark of night nice 70-80ft drop half step away... Half dozen cans of spray paint and jar of pot they thought was nice place to get high.. Truth told could have had to pick them up in a bag at the bottom of hill..
Thing is age 18 for the paint or pot really wouldn't made no difference they just by can whipped cream. They were going there to get high could have easily culled them selfies from world....
What the government really needs to regulate is regulators...
I'd just like to buy a new gas can I can actually pour from.. Or pour the pee out of my boot when I get to drunk on moonshine wet myself. Not get a ticket for illegal dumping of waste.
It's all way gotten out of hand what others can tell others to do...

Mac

I had no trouble buying cigarettes between 13-18 years old, still remember all the main brand ad slogans on TV, I was a Marlboro man! Over 2 packs a day before I was 17, quit at 18, October 10-1975, still 45 cents a pack then, 4.00 cartons, now they are 6.50 -9.00$ a pack!!!!
Thank the Lord I quit, I'd be dead by now

So an 18 year old kid can't be trusted to choose whether or not to smoke... But at 16 we trust them with a cell phone and a 3000 lb car?

Mike

It’s about control. Do what I say, I know what’s best for you. You can only die once.

And a bunch of people still alive and breeding and making decisions that "Darwin" should've taken care of.

The insurance institute and consumer reports say raising the speed limit has caused 37,000 more deaths in the last 25 years.

I would love to have seen the post made by some members if this had been done with a dem in the White house. Pretty easy to guess what they'd have been like.

watcha catch'n gryhkl,son's hammerin the walleye.

Where'd he have to go to find ice?

Minot ND--he's rubbin it in.

Thing is an 18 year old will give a 16 year old a cigarette. But a 21 year old will say "get lost kid"
same with alcohol.
Has to be a line drawn somewhere or 7 year olds will using. I remember my 7 year old younger brother picking up a still smoldering cigarette butt and trying it.
just