NJ inches closer to setting legal age for tobacco at 21 (NJ101.5, Kevin McArdle)
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On January 7, 2015, New Jersey 101.5 reported that the Bill that would raise the legal minimum age to buy or sell tobacco products and electronic cigarettes in New Jersey to 21 is only one step away from Gov. Chris Christies’s desk.
An Assembly committee approved the measure Thursday and the full Assembly is expected to vote on it Monday, the last day of the legislative session.
New Jersey is currently one of just four states with the legal smoking age of 19. If this bill were to become law, the Garden State would become the second in the nation to raise the minimum age requirement to purchase tobacco to 21. Hawaii was the first.
Critics of the bill said, if the minimum age was raised to 21 the state would lose almost $20 million in sales tax revenue. Vainieri Huttle said that would easily be offset by having to spend less on health care if fewer people were smoking or using any tobacco products.
Read the full article here on New Jersey 101.5