Hawaii to consider raising minimum smoking age to 100 in bid to phase out cigarette sales

‘The state is obliged to protect the public’s health’

Hawaii is considering laws which would incrementally raise the legal age at which you can smoke, until only those aged over 100 can buy cigarettes.

Democratic state representative Richard Creagan’s proposed legislation would effectively ban the sale of cigarettes on Hawaii, and if adopted it would become the first US state to do so.

Currently Hawaiians must be 21 in order to buy cigarettes, but under the proposals, the age would rise to 30 in 2020, 40 in 2021, 50 in 2022, 60 in 2023, and then jump from 60 to 100 in 2024.

The age limit would not apply to cigars, chewing tobacco or electronic cigarettes.

Mr Creagan, who is a doctor, does not believe taxation and health warnings are effective enough measures to curb smoking.

“It’s slowing it down, but it’s not stopping the problem,” Mr Creagan told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

“We essentially have a group who are heavily addicted – in my view, enslaved by a ridiculously bad industry – which has enslaved them by designing a cigarette that is highly addictive, knowing that it highly lethal. And, it is.”

“The state is obliged to protect the public’s health,” he said.

“We don’t allow people free access to opioids, for instance, or any prescription drugs.”

Speaking to the paper Mr Creagan acknowledged he had smoked cigarettes during his medical residency to help him stay awake during long shifts. He also reportedly picked tobacco as a teenager as a summer job.

Despite his plans to limit smoking tobacco, Mr Creagan supports the legalisation of marijuana, saying smoking the drug was not as great a health risk as smoking tobacco.

But he is not the only Hawaiian politician making moves to clamp down on smoking. Democratic Senator Dru Kanuha has also introduced a bill to raise taxation on tobacco to raise funds for health programmes.

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Mr Creagan’s bill has two other sponsors and is expected to be heard by the House Health Committee later this week.