SACRAMENTO – Last week California lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Jerry Brown to increase the state’s legal age to purchase or use tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, from 18 to 21.

The Sacramento Bee reports the nation’s most populous state “is on the brink of becoming only the second after Hawaii to bar [all] teenagers from lighting up, dipping or vaping.”

"We can prevent countless California youth from becoming addicted to this deadly drug, save billions of dollars in direct health care costs and, most importantly, save lives," said state Sen. Ed Hernandez, author of the bill.

Opponents of raising the legal tobacco age from 18 to 21 maintain that people can make adult decisions when they turn 18 and “live with the consequences,” notes the news source, adding that 18-year-olds can register to vote, join the military, sign legally binding contracts and do most legal activities except purchase alcohol. The bill was amended to allow members of the military to continue buying cigarettes at age 18.

The news source writes that the California Senate vote came just over a week after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to raise the city’s legal tobacco buying age to 21, joining more than 100 other U.S. cities that have increased the tobacco purchase age in recent years.

Read more about increased age limits for tobacco purchases in the March issue of NACS Magazine.