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San Francisco Votes to be 1st in CA to Raise Minimum Sale Age for Tobacco to 21
March 1, 2016
Contact: Steph McCorkle/916 802-4033
San Francisco Votes to Become First City/County in California to Raise Minimum Sale Age for Tobacco to 21
California State Assembly Faces Similar Opportunity on Thursday
Sacramento, CA – March 1, 2016 – The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is applauding a vote by the City and County of San Francisco today to raise the minimum legal sale age for tobacco products from 18 to 21. The ordinance, which received unanimous support from the supervisors this afternoon, will now come back to the board for a final vote before becoming law in June. Coincidently, California lawmakers will consider Assembly Bill X2-8 on Thursday that would also raise the tobacco sales age to 21—statewide.
“Raising the minimum sale age for tobacco to 21 is an important step in strengthening tobacco laws and reducing the death and suffering from tobacco-related illnesses,” said California ACS CAN Vice President, Government Relations Jim Knox. “We thank San Francisco for taking this bold action and urge the California Assembly to also vote in favor of raising the tobacco sale age to 21 in addition to supporting five other tobacco-related bills that together create a historic step forward in saving lives and health care costs.”
The other special session bills help address what ACS CAN describe as “tackling tobacco with a three-legged stool.” They include improving smoke-free laws, allowing local jurisdictions to raise tobacco taxes, and fully funding evidence-based tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Other bills under consideration Thursday and supported by ACS CAN include regulating e-cigarettes in the same manner as combustible cigarettes, which San Francisco and more than 80 other California cities and counties have already done.
Additionally, ACS CAN is part of the Save Lives California coalition that is busy gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative that would increase the state’s tobacco tax by $2 per pack, with an equivalent tax on other tobacco products such as e-cigarettes. Currently, at only 87 cents, California has one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country and well below the average of $1.59 per pack.
“The fact is, one third of all cancer deaths are attributable to tobacco use,” said Knox. “If we don’t want people to smoke, we need to restore California’s leadership in tobacco control and that includes preventing teens from smoking because 90 percent of tobacco users start before the age of 21.”
Hawaii voted to raise the tobacco sales age to 21, which took effect in January of this year. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine commissioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration predicted that increasing the national age for sale of tobacco to 21 would reduce smoking rates by 12 percent and result in 200,000 fewer premature deaths.
Evidence suggests that the adolescent brain has a heightened susceptibility to the addictive qualities of nicotine and research by the Surgeon General indicates that they can become dependent on nicotine very rapidly and at lower levels of consumption than adults.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
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