Schatz Calls for Raising Federal Age for Smoking, Vaping to 21

Cigarettes. Photo by Wendy Osher.

US Senator Brian Schatz joins three colleagues in advocating for a raise in the federal minimum age to buy tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21.

Last week, the senators introduced the Tobacco to 21 Act, bipartisan legislation to do just that.

Tomorrow, US Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) will hold a press event with anti-tobacco and public health advocates to call for the change in federal law.

In January of 2016, Hawaiʻi became the first state in the nation to raise the age on the sale of tobacco products and e-cigs to 21.

Joining the senators at tomorrow’s press event will be: Queen Cornish, State Chair of the Delaware Kick Butts Generation; Matthew Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; and Deborah Brown, Chief Mission Officer for the American Lung Association.