According to GOP House Rep Jackie Toledo, many vape retailers in Florida state are not enforcing the existing rules. This is after she was informed by a minor that they bought a restricted product in one of the retail stores. Upon visiting the said store, she discovered that there were no signs warning customers of the age limit for buying tobacco products.
This contravenes the 2021 state legislation which requires that all retail stores selling nicotine products obtain a license to sell such products. In addition, the stores must put up signs next to checkout points informing customers it’s illegal to sell these products to people under 21 years old.
The tobacco 21 legislation which house rep Toledo co-sponsored came into effect on October 1st, 2021. This made it illegal for customers under 21 years to buy vaping products in the state. However, rep Toledo found out that many retail stores were not enforcing this regulation. She argued stores selling vapers in the state enforce the rules as required.
Tobacco Consumption Data
Many states in the country have already complied with the federal laws and raised the tobacco consumption age to 21 years. As a result of these changes in legislation across the different states, many scientists have been conducting studies to look into the effect of raising the age limit for tobacco consumption.
For example, a recent study that investigated the impact of the 2016 legislation in the state of California that raised the tobacco consumption age from 18 years to 21 years indicated positive trends. The study found that the T21 law that came into effect in 2016 has had positive health impacts on students in grades 11, 9 and 7 across the state. The results of this study were summarized in the News-Medical as below:
- The law led to a significant drop in the use of e-cigarettes, lifetime smokeless tobacco and past month smokeless tobacco in the student population in the state.
- A significant drop in the past 30-day and lifetime use of nicotine and tobacco products by Latinx youth.
- An increase in the past month’s e-cigarette prevalence
- A positive health impact on other racial groups within the state.
Mixed Results
Not all studies have produced positive results. A study carried out by UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center on the laws governing the age limit for tobacco consumption produced mixed results. Researchers Elisa Tong, Melanie Dove and Susan steward began by analyzing the tobacco use patterns among Californian youth before the T21 regulations came into effect and after the regulations came into effect. Finally, the researchers compared their results with those from states that don’t have such laws and the T21 legislation in California. The data was sourced from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for the 2012-2019 period.
The study found that the T21 law in California did not have a significant impact on the use of tobacco products in the state. For example, before the T21 regulations came into force the state recorded an 11% annual drop in the odds of 18–20-year-olds in the state smocking after the T21 enactment and a 6% drop in the reference states. After the introduction of the T21 regulations, the statistics remained almost the same.
The study also reported that the annual drop in daily smocking among 18–20-year-olds in California increased from 8% before the law to 26% after the law was passed in 2016. This is a huge increase which is a major plus for the T21 law.
