A new law takes effect Friday in Arizona to raise the age to buy or possess tobacco products from 18 to 21.
A federal law in 2019 raised the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21 nationwide. Arizona was facing federal funding cuts if it did not update its state law accordingly. Lawmakers in June passed SB 1247 to bring Arizona into compliance.
Until now, Arizona was one of just seven states that had not changed its state law to be consistent with federal law. And Rob Crane, president of the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, said some retailers in the state were still selling tobacco products to 18-year-olds.
“It’s a difficult problem for a reputable retailer to understand whether they should obey the federal law, while their competitor down the street is obeying the state law. So this really makes it much more uniform and fair,” Crane said.
The law covers cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, vaping products, hookah, and other tobacco products and paraphernalia. It makes it a petty offense for a person to give these products to someone under 21 or for someone under 21 to possess them. It makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor for a retailer to sell these products to someone under 21.
The Arizona law includes an exception to allow members of the military who are between 18 and 21 years old to buy or use tobacco. But Crane pointed out military personnel must still follow regulations of their branch.
“Base commanders are exceptionally unlikely to allow a carve-out, so this is, I think, a somewhat meaningless provision,” Crane said.
The most important thing, Crane said, is that the law will help keep vaping and nicotine products out of the hands of high schoolers.
“The primary resources for kids in high school in terms of getting vapes or other nicotine substances are from their older friends, so it turns out if you raise the age to 21, it reduces high school use dramatically,” Crane said.
According to the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, about 18% of Arizona high school seniors use vape products.
“Nicotine addiction has just so many adverse effects on kids,” Crane said, “If we can prevent them from getting addicted, I think the health of Arizona will improve.”
