Cleveland Mulls Restricting Tobacco Products to 21

The city’s convenience store owners objected to language that also would restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products to retail tobacco stores.

November 19, 2015

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland City Council might join New York City and Hawaii in forbidding the sale of tobacco products to youth under the age of 21, Cleveland.com reports. The move under consideration by the council also includes language only allowing retail tobacco shops to sell flavored tobacco products.

Convenience store operators strongly objected to the proposal because it favors retail tobacco stores at the expense of their businesses. Committee Chairman Joe Cimperman sponsored the measures, which he said were to help teens from developing a smoking addiction.

Several councilmen opposed the ordinance to limit the sale of flavored tobacco products to tobacco retail stores, but councilman Jeffrey Johnson supported the restriction. “It’s not so much creating an oligopoly for flavored tobacco, it’s limiting the sale to places that are selling within the state's legal definition of tobacco shops,” he said, pointing out that the proposal is similar to liquor restrictions. “I view this as a companion piece to the issue of raising the age from 18 to 21.”

Cimperman said the legislation will be heard twice more before he will call for a vote early next month. Meanwhile, 10 U.S. senators have introduced legislation on the national level (and Pennsylvania is considering statewide legislation) to raise the tobacco buying age to 21.

Hawaii’s law, which goes into effect January 1, is the first statewide measure to set the minimum age for tobacco purchases at 21. New York City also forbids the selling of tobacco products to those under 21. Four states have set the minimum age for tobacco purchases at 19: Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah.

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