The part about including nicotine vapes in the definition of tobacco products is totally reasonable. But raising the age limit to 21 is really not justified at all. And Pennsylvania had been seeing so much progress in reducing teen smoking and vaping already, mainly due to tax hikes on both. It would really be a shame to risk derailing such progress now with such an utterly illiberal and ageist law.
Yes, there is an exception in the new law for active military and veterans, who only need to be 18 or older instead of 21 to buy tobacco products. But that one silver lining does still not make it OK to deny adult rights to otherwise legal adults over 18 who are legally old enough to join the military, regardless of whether they are actually in the military or not. Thus, the exception does not actually resolve the inherent ageism and hypocrisy of this otherwise bad law.
I like to joke about "the other Tri-State Area", where NY, NJ, and PA all meet. Port Jervis, NY, Montague, NJ, and Matamoras, PA are all right next to each other, and Matamoras is basically "come for the fireworks, stay for the cigarettes", since fireworks are legal in PA to sell to nonresidents, cigarettes are cheaper in PA, and the age limit in PA for tobacco has been 18 (until July 2020) while it is 21 in NY and NJ. Looks like the tobacco part of that equation will no longer be true, at least the age limit part, and the price difference is also narrower now for cigarettes, and reversed for vape products, due to the tax hikes. And gas is also more expensive now in PA than either of the other two states, while NJ gas is almost as pricey as NY now. Thus the whole microeconomic dynamics of "the other Tri-State Area" are fundamentally different now, except for the fireworks of course.
Yes, there is an exception in the new law for active military and veterans, who only need to be 18 or older instead of 21 to buy tobacco products. But that one silver lining does still not make it OK to deny adult rights to otherwise legal adults over 18 who are legally old enough to join the military, regardless of whether they are actually in the military or not. Thus, the exception does not actually resolve the inherent ageism and hypocrisy of this otherwise bad law.
I like to joke about "the other Tri-State Area", where NY, NJ, and PA all meet. Port Jervis, NY, Montague, NJ, and Matamoras, PA are all right next to each other, and Matamoras is basically "come for the fireworks, stay for the cigarettes", since fireworks are legal in PA to sell to nonresidents, cigarettes are cheaper in PA, and the age limit in PA for tobacco has been 18 (until July 2020) while it is 21 in NY and NJ. Looks like the tobacco part of that equation will no longer be true, at least the age limit part, and the price difference is also narrower now for cigarettes, and reversed for vape products, due to the tax hikes. And gas is also more expensive now in PA than either of the other two states, while NJ gas is almost as pricey as NY now. Thus the whole microeconomic dynamics of "the other Tri-State Area" are fundamentally different now, except for the fireworks of course.
This is more tyrannical resulted from a country run on the destructive ideology of neoliberalism. Vaping companies support raising the minimum age to 21 for vaping because vaping devices would not be banned by the federal government. Neoliberlism is a large reason for the oppressive laws and rules against young people. Taxes on alcoholic beverages are low, taxes on vaping devices on vaping devices are low, taxes on cigarettes are not high enough and drunk driving laws are not strict enough. In a neoliberal society, marginalized groups are oppressed so that the compnanies may continue to go unpunished.
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