California’s governor, Jerry Brown, signed many bills on May 1st regarding the raise of the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 and the restriction of the use of e-cigarettes, commonly known as “vapes”, in public areas. Although this bill caused many controversies, the governor’s approach to help save lives was indeed engaging for public safety. These new bills will become effective sooner - June 9 - than other bills taking effect on Jan 1, 2017.

“It is long past due for California to update our approach to tobacco, and with the governor’s signature on these life-saving bills, we have done just that,” said Steven Larson, president of the CMA. Ninety percent of tobacco users start before the age of 21 and 80% of users try before the age of 18, showing how young teens can get their hands on tobacco products. These bills project 200,000 fewer premature deaths due to smoking for people born between 2000-2019. California is the second state to raise the smoking age to 21, following Hawaii. These striving efforts may prevent as many as 34,000 deaths each year.

“California took a step backwards today by reclassifying vapor products as tobacco,” the group said in a statement. “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.” The law viewed electronic cigarettes as tobacco products, restricting the use of e-cigs in public spaces. They also view it as a new system of nicotine and toxins delivered to humans. Many high schools have begun to use the technology of e-cigs, tripling the amount of users from 2013-2014. Many e-cig companies are outraged because of these new laws and the law viewing e-cig products as tobacco substances. E-cigs were mainly created to help users to quit smoking, now it is labeled as a tobacco product itself. In my opinion, I believe smoking at young ages will still continue to grow. Teenagers are young people and are experimenting with new things every day. They have the urge to try out new things even though they may be drugs or tobacco. The facts show that in California, 80% of regular tobacco users have smoked before the age of 18. Even though the smoking limit is raised, teenagers will be able to get their hands on cigs. These new bills by gov. Brown will definitely prevent many deaths.

<Danny Park Cypress High School 10th Grade>