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Update: Millburn advocates sounds off as Christie vetoes Tobacco 21 bill (The Item of Millburn & Short Hills)

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Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have raised the legal age to buy tobacco and electronic smoking products in New Jersey. The bill – nicknamed Tobacco 21 – was sponsored by Sen. Richard J. Codey and Sen. Joseph F. Vitale, and would have raised the minimum smoking age from 19 to 21.

The bill has however been re-introduced, and is now headed back to the state Senate and the Assembly for consideration. New Jersey towns can also adopt their own Tobacco 21 ordinances. Fifteen towns had done so before the bill went to Christie’s desk, one more after, and over 100 have similar ordinances nationwide.

Karen Blumenfeld Esq., Executive director of Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy (GASP) and a former township resident, says the bill would have helped stop young people from starting to smoke.

“What’s sad is that this bill would have limited (the public’s) access to a deadly product,” she said.

Read the full January 19, 2016 story in The Item of Millburn/Short Hills article.