As of December 20, 2019 the age for sale of tobacco raised from 18 to 21 in order to save younger generations from picking up the habit. Most adult smokers started smoking before 21 and most of those before 18. In addition to this, most cigarette suppliers are around the age of 18. The goal of this new change is to save lives, with an objective of preventing a projected number of 223,000 deaths in what would have been new smokers.

The biggest change for students in the new bill is the age raise on vapes and Juuls which was strongly suggested by the US Food and Drug Administration. Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is another protester for the raised age limit.

“To reverse the e-cigarette epidemic, policy makers must prohibit flavored e-cigarettes and cannot be limited by what the tobacco industry says is acceptable,” Myers’ said.

“I think that science would show that the brain keeps developing past the age of 18, so [the age] should have been raised to 21,” said history teacher Joseph Rix. He goes further to say the age lift would not help stop vaping “at all.”

Albert Caba, a student at JCHS, had a similar opinion, agreeing that the age should be changed from 18 to 21.