http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/69965/20151129/massachussetts-raises-smoking-age-21.htm
Massachusetts lawmakers are working on a new legislature that would raise the legal smoking age in the state from 18 to 21.
Massachusetts lawmakers decided to raise the state’s smoking age after Boston considered the new bill. Almost 60 representatives and senators have signed the proposed law stating that selling and smoking cigarettes to people under the age of 21 is illegal. Anyone who violates the law will be fined $100 to $300 for repeat violations.
According to the report, the bill, if singed into a law, will be implemented in early 2016. The bill aims to decrease the number of youngsters who are smoking.
A study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies revealed that 90 percent of daily smokers started smoking before the age of 19.
“It is our responsibility to do what we can to guide our young people and create a healthier future for all Bostonians,” said Mayor Marty Walsh. “We know the consequences of tobacco use are real and can be devastating.”
Dr. Claire McCarthy, a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital and spokeswoman at American Academy of Pediatrics, expressed her support for the proposed bill saying that it would not only lessen the number of tobacco smokers but would also save lives. However, the pediatrician also noted that good parenting is the best strategy against anti-smoking.
“I say raise it,” she told Boston.com. “It would translate not only into less tobacco use but less disease and death. But we’d save even more lives if parents did more talking to their kids – about tobacco, about life as a teen, about anything and everything.”
In the United States, Hawaii was the first state to implement the smoking age to 21 this year. States like California and Washington have also considered implementing the same bill.