USA: A decade after banning smoking in bars and restaurants, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg bans the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to those under 21 years of age

Record ID: 564768

  • Title: USA: A decade after banning smoking in bars and restaurants, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg bans the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to those under 21 years of age
  • Date: 19th November 2013
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 19, 2013) (REUTERS) NEWSSTAND WITH CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS FOR SALE VARIOUS OF CIGARETTES ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF CURRENT SIGNS THAT STATE 18-YEARS OF AGE AS LEGAL REQUIREMENT TO PURCHASE TOBACCO PRODUCTS MAN LIGHTING CIGARETTE VARIOUS OF MAN SMOKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MELISSA, NEW YORK SMOKER, SAYING: "I mean I just think you shouldn't be smoking even though I do smoke still. Twenty-one is probably a good age I mean you can't drink anyway until you're 21, technically. So, as long as they can enforce it . . . I don't know how they will. It's pretty hard. I'd think it'd be a great idea to move it along outside of New York as well." CIGARETTE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DANNY, NEW YORK SMOKER, SAYING: "If kids want to smoke, they're going to smoke regardless, so why punish. . . I don't know. I just feel like if younger kids are going to smoke they're going to smoke anyway. I know plenty of people that have been smoking since they were 16, 14-years old and they're still smoking now." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JERMAINE, NEW YORK NON-SMOKER, SAYING: "What I notice is that they'll find somebody else older to pick them up for them and I notice a lot of stores still don't check and I see people go in stores, and young people, go into stores and buy cigarettes and they don't ask for i.d.'s, so yeah, it's tough." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MELISSA, NEW YORK SMOKER, SAYING: "Yeah, it was too easy. I walked into a 7-Eleven and got cigarettes, tried them for the first time and it was just too easy for me at the age of 18. I don't even think I was 18. I was 17. But um, I had not been carded. I went in bought a pack of Parliament Lights and it was as simple as that, and the I've been hooked ever since." VARIOUS OF WOMAN SMOKING MAN LIGHTING CIGARETTE
  • Embargoed: 4th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA7MI924ZQW85TWBQ552AQ6ROYL
  • Story Text: New York's "public health" mayor, Michael Bloomberg, reinforced his legacy on Tuesday (November 19) when he signed a law that prevented the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to those under the age of 21.
    Bloomberg, who ten years ago passed a law that banned smoking in bars and restaurants, signed the new bill at a ceremony at city hall.

    "People always try to put things like selling cigarettes into the context of jobs and whether or not it helps or hurts stores. I think that is just so outrageously misplaced. This is an issue of whether we're going to kill people," explained Bloomberg.

    "This century a billion people will die from smoking in the world and we don't want any of the people that die to be New Yorkers. That's the one thing we can do and the people that try to change the argument to an economic one really ought to look in the mirror and be ashamed," he argued.
    For most of the country the legal age to purchase and consume tobacco is 18 years old, though some states and counties have adopted 19-years of age. In the Boston suburb of Needham, the age limit was raised to 21 in 2005.
    New York will be the first large city in the U.S. to prevent the sale of cigarettes and tobacco to those under the age of 21, even though those over 18 can still possess and smoke cigarettes without issue.
    In the streets of New York, despite the efforts of Bloomberg during his tenure, smoking remains common and many smokers are unhappy with the new law.

    "I just feel like if younger kids are going to smoke they're going to smoke anyway. I know plenty of people that have been smoking since they 16, 14-years old and they're still smoking now," said Danny, a New York smoker who only 19-years old and will be prevented from buying cigarettes.
    The same sentiment that underage smokers will continue to get their hands on cigarettes was repeated often.

    "What I notice is that they'll find somebody else older to pick them up for them and I notice a lot of stores still don't check and I see people go in stores, and young people, go into stores and buy cigarettes and they don't ask for i.d.'s," said Jermaine, a non-smoking resident in the city.
    The problem of enforcement was echoed by others.

    "Twenty-one is probably a good age I mean you can't drink anyway until you're 21, technically. So, as long as they can enforce it . . . I don't know how they will. It's pretty hard," said Melissa, who started smoking when she was 17-years old, though doubted the new law would have stopped her from starting.

    "It was too easy. I walked into a 7-Eleven and got cigarettes, tried them for the first time and it was just too easy for me at the age of 18. I don't even think I was 18. I was 17. But um, I had not been carded. I went in bought a pack of Parliament Lights and it was as simple as that, and the I've been hooked ever since," she added.
    The new law, which was passed by the city council last month, will go into effect in 180 days from the receipt of the mayor's signature.
    Bloomberg also introduced changes that will prohibit the use of coupons or other discounts when buying tobacco and set a minimum cigarette price across the city of $10.50 (USD) per pack. The legislation new legislation also prohibits the sale of small cigars in packages of less than 20 and increases penalties for vendors that violate the new regulations.
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