US: Council Considers Tobacco Sale Restrictions

Source from:  The Examiner 12/09/2015

The city of Independence has come forward with its own Tobacco 21 ordinance.

The City Council heard its first reading Monday for a city code amendment that would raise the purchase age for tobacco, alternative nicotine and vapor products from 18 to 21.

According to city information, the language is similar to the ordinances passed last month by the city council of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.

If approved, the code would prohibit the sale and purchase of tobacco, alternative nicotine and vapor products for those under 21 years old. However, Mayor Eileen Weir made a motion - which received votes for approval - to keep the age for possession at 18. The goal, she said later, is not "to haul in a 20-year-old for having cigarettes."

City staff indicated that, if the council approves the ordinance, a 60-day period would be sufficient to educate retailers and citizens before the ordinance takes effect.

On Nov. 9, 10 days before the Kansas City ordinances passed, Dr. Bridget McCandless of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City spoke to the council about the regional Tobacco 21 initiative. She said the group's goal is to curtail youngsters from starting to use tobacco products by making them more difficult to obtain from older peers.

Kansas City became the second city in Missouri (after Columbia last year) to pass a Tobacco 21 law. More than 100 cities and the state of Hawaii have such a law.

The Independence City Council is scheduled to vote on the ordinance at its Dec. 21 meeting. Enditem