The New York City Council passed a first-of-its-kind bill Wednesday that would raise minimum age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to sign the measure. Officials previously shelved a plan Bloomberg unveiled with fanfare earlier this year: forcing stores to keep cigarettes out of public view until a customer asks for them.
The city’s current age limit is 18, a federal minimum that’s standard in many places. Some states and communities have raised the age to 19. At least two towns, in Massachusetts, have agreed to raise it to 21.
Advocates say higher age limits help prevent, or at least delay, young people from taking up a habit that remains the leading cause of preventable deaths nationwide. And supporters point to drinking-age laws as a precedent for setting the bar at 21.
(AP)
18? You mean 21.
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