Politicians in Hawaii are hop to effectively cast out the sale of cigarettes by raising the res publica ’s minimum old age to 100 . That ’s correct – if the bill is give ( still an if , at this stage ) , you will need to be in the three - digit age bracket to legally purchase a pack of smokes .
" The legislature finds that the fag is consider the deadliest artifact in human history,“the bill(HB 1509 ) begins .
" The cigarette is an unreasonably dangerous and defective production , kill half of its long - terminal figure user . Further , although the cigarette is addictive by design due to the front of nicotine , the baccy industry has further manipulated the design of cigarettes in ordering to increase coffin nail addiction and dependance . "
The new bill would implement the forbidding incrementally over a five - yr period , raising the minimum historic period to 30 in 2020 , 40 in 2021 , 50 in 2022 , 60 in 2023 , and , ultimately , 100 in 2024 . This does technically intend that centenarians retain their right to puff away , but they might be intemperately pressed to line up any actual cigarettes if the bill does come into force-out .
The man behind the bill isRep . Richard Creagan , a Democrat in the state House of Representatives for Hawaii ’s Fifth Representative District ( South Kona / Ka‘u ) . Creagan , a former emergency elbow room doctor , hopes the Aloha State will be the first to effectively banish cigarette by taking them off store shelves as , presumptively , centenarian clients wo n’t create much of a need .
" essentially , we basically have a grouping who are heavily addicted – in my view , enslave by a ridiculously spoiled industry – which has enslaved them by designing a butt that is extremely habit-forming , have it away that it is highly lethal . And , it is , " Creagan narrate theHawaii Tribune - Herald .
" We do n’t allow people loose access to opioids , for illustration , or any prescription drugs , " he continued . " This is more deadly , more serious than any ethical drug drug , and it is more addicting . In my purview , you are taking people who are enslave from a direful addiction , and freeing people from horrific enslavement . "
The ban does not prevent tourists from bringing cigarettes into the nation from elsewhere , nor does it extend to other tobacco plant products ( e - cigarettes , jaw tobacco plant , and cigars ) . The view being that non - combustible tobacco products ( e - cigs and manducate baccy ) are less harmful than fag , while certain combustible products ( cigars ) are not inhaled and so less dangerous . ( The American Cancer Societymight have something to say about this . )
So , why raise the minimal years to 100 ? Why not outright ban cigarette altogether ?
The family relationship between federal and DoS practice of law makes the implementation of an all - out ban tricky to talk terms , but res publica like Hawaii do retain the rightto increase the effectual long time limitbeyond a minimum of 18 years . The Hawaii legislature has alreadyraised the smoke age to 21 , becoming the first state to do so in 2016 .
This follow a theme published by theInstitute of Medicinein 2015 that find " there would be approximately 223,000 fewer premature deaths , 50,000 fewer deaths from lung Crab , and 4.2 million fewer years of life lost for those born between 2000 and 2019 " if the smoking old age was raised to 21 years nationwide .
Currently , theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) estimate a dying cost of close to half a million Americans every class from smoke or breathing in of second - hand gage , calling it the top drive of preventable disease and end in the country .
To become jurisprudence , however , this bill will need to pass through the state legislative assembly and , in all likeliness , face pressure from America ’s baccy industriousness . It is set to be heard afterwards this workweek by extremity of the House Health Committee .
