California smoking age has officially gone up from 18 to 21

New regulations also formally regulate electronic cigarettes

Diverse Images/Getty

Entry level smokers will have to wait three more years before they can lawfully purchase cigarettes from shops, as California’s new law raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 has taken effect - making it the second US state to do so.

Gov Jerry Brown signed bills that placed the new regulations on smoking age alongside other bills that enacted tougher restrictions on e-cigarettes and smoking at workplaces and schools.

State senator and author of the bill Ed Hernandez said the law is a victory for the legislature, whose efforts to regulate cigarettes are often quelled by the force of the tobacco industry.

“California is sending a strong message that we will not tolerate Big Tobacco’s deceptive marketing of this lethal product aimed at addicting our kids,” said Mr Hernandez, chair of the Senate Health Committee, adding that the law will save lives.

“This is a victory not only for Californians today, but for generations to come who will not have to experience first-hand the deadly impacts of tobacco.”

With the new regulations also come tighter restrictions on electronic cigarettes, putting them in the same category as cigarettes. Public health advocates had been wary of the creation of new addicts, as youthful smokers marked a significant portion of the e-cigarette market.

E-cigarette advocates, however, say that vapor products offer a safer, smoke free alternative to cigarettes, and the new regulations further stigmatise the method.

“California took a step backwards today by reclassifying vapor products as tobacco,” the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association told the Sacramento Bee. “Stigmatizing vapor products, which contain no tobacco and treating them the same as combustible tobacco while actively seeking to economically penalize smokers attempting to switch is counterproductive to public health.”

Critics also suggest that the tighter restrictions on smoking could create a black market of illegal cigarette sales.

California joins Hawaii as the second US state to raise the smoking age to 21. Other cities, including New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Cleveland have all adopted regulations that prohibit the purchase of tobacco before 21.

According to a 2015 report published by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, some 50.4 per cent of Americans favoured raising the smoking age to 21.

A staggering 75 per cent of former smokers and 70 per cent of current smokers also agreed that the age should be raised from 18.