Wasserman Sees Challenges In Raising Smoking Age To 21

By John Voket

Some lawmakers, including Newtown State Representative Julia Wasserman, are considering testimony offered this week in favor of making young people in Connecticut wait a few more years before they can legally buy cigarettes. The hearing came just days after Newtown police reported citing clerks at two Newtown businesses in a sting after tobacco was sold to minors posing undercover for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS).

Police said they charged Amy Yothers, 26, of 181 Berkshire Road, who was working at the Friendly Service Station at 151 South Main Street, and also charged Jennifer Van Epps, 24, of 52 Charter Ridge Road, who was working at Stop & Save Liquors of Newtown at 228 South Main Street, with illegal sale of tobacco to a minor.

According to the state Dept of Consumer Protection, the permittee of Stop & Save Liquors is Patrick DeAngelis who is Media Co-Coordinator for Friends of Newtown, a grassroots organization tied to the blog site Insidenewtown.com. He is the father of Matt DeAngelis, the store’s owner and primary contributor to the blog, who has also said he is considering a run for the first selectman’s seat this November.

The infraction tickets the clerks received carry $200 fines, police said. Those fines may be appealed in court.

Also, the person who holds the state cigarette dealer license at each of the businesses where the violations occurred will face administrative sanctions from the state Department of Revenue Services, which issues those licenses, police said.

The holder of the cigarette sales license for Friendly Service Station is Friendly Service Station, Inc., and Stop & Save Liquors of Connecticut, a sunsidiary of Banted Holdings, Inc. holds the license for Mr DeAngelis’ store.

On the legislative front, earlier this week the state’s Public Health Committee heard testimony about a proposal to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21. If the bill passes, Connecticut would have the highest age requirement in the nation for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The legal age in most states is 18, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. It is 19 in Alabama, Alaska, and Utah, as well as some counties.

“By increasing the age, we can stop many young people from getting their hands on cigarettes,” said Jessica Adelson, 17, of Hebron, who proposed the bill as part of an essay contest about how to change the world.

Almost 90 percent of cigarette smokers started at or before age 18, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“Why are we allowing our youth of Connecticut to start such a nasty habit at such a young and vulnerable age?” Ms Adelson asked.

She told lawmakers that increasing the legal age for tobacco sales will make it difficult for younger teens, such as 16-year-olds, to get cigarettes. Younger teens, she said, typically know a lot more 18-year-olds than 21-year-olds who might buy them cigarettes.

But it is unclear whether higher age requirements for buying tobacco lead to fewer young smokers.

“It certainly makes sense from a public health standpoint,” Rep Wasserman told The Bee Tuesday. “But ultimately, I think parents should do the job to keep kids from smoking...period.

Rep Wasserman said she is convinced that so many young people under the age of 18 smoke because parents permit it in their homes.

In Alabama, where the smoking age is 19, 24.4 percent of high school students smoke, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. That is compared with the national average of 23 percent.

In Utah, 7.4 percent of high school students smoke, while that number is 19.2 percent in Alaska.

In Connecticut, 18.1 percent of high school students — about 35,800 — smoke, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

“Anything that legislators can do to make it more difficult for kids to start smoking is a good thing, but beyond that, it’s not clear whether there’s any real hard evidence to support the idea that raising the age for being able to buy tobacco products has any real effect on keeping kids away from tobacco,” said Joel Spivak, assistant director of media relations for Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “If it does, we’re all for it.”

John Singleton, a spokesman for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., one of the nation’s leading cigarette manufacturers, questioned the effectiveness of the legislation. He also said it is unfair to 18-year-olds who can defend the nation in war, vote, serve on a jury, marry, donate their organs, and write up a will.

“To say that they can’t buy a pack of cigarettes seems a little inconsistent from our viewpoint,” he said.

New York City officials last year discussed raising the city’s smoking age from 18 to 21 as a way to further reduce smoking. Last month, a Texas state senator filed a bill that would raise the minimum age to use or buy cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 19.

A similar bill increasing the age to 19 was proposed in Onondaga County, N.Y., but the county executive vetoed the legislation last month because it did not exempt young people in the military or provide funding for enforcement.

Meanwhile, British officials have debated raising the smoking age there from 16 to 18.

According to Rep Wasserman, while the initiative is important to consider, in the big picture she said such legislation would add another layer of control or oversight that might be challenging for the state.

“I think if legislation like this passes, the enforcement of it will be difficult,” Rep Wasserman added.

(Associated Press reports were used in this story.)