Pennsylvania Raises Smoking Age To 21

It's official, Pennsylvania just raised the legal age limit for tobacco products from 18 to 21, effective July 1, 2020, making them the 19th state (and counting) to do so.  And the new law also expands the legal definition of tobacco products to include vaping products as well, since apparently they didn't even have an age limit for vaping products at all (though the federal age limit of 18 applied by default from 2016 onwards).

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.

Finally, Some "Reefer Sanity" In The Vaping Debate

It seems that at least some pundits, politicians, and public health officials are just starting to catch up with reality.  There is rapidly mounting evidence now that the primary culprit in the mystery vaping illness (that has killed over 40 people and sickened at least 2000 in the USA as of November 15, 2019) is the thickener additive Vitamin E Acetate in mostly black-market or counterfeit THC cartridges. This "thick and greasy" oil is harmless when used topically or ingested orally, but when inhaled it is apparently VERY bad for your lungs, much like any other "thick and greasy" oil would logically be.  And finally, several cannabis legalization and even medicalization states are belatedly banning or trying to ban its use in both legal and illegal THC cartridges, since until now almost no state banned or restricted this additive.

Better late than never, but honestly, what the hell took them so long?

THIS is what more states need to be doing.  Legalize cannabis, keep vaping legal in general, but regulate better and root out any bad actors in the legitimate market, while cracking down on any remaining illicit market that continues to hawk questionable wares.  In contrast, broad vaping or flavor bans, as well as cannabis prohibition and/or age limits set higher than 18, will only drive more customers to the black market, essentially pouring gasoline on the fire.  And those who foolishly opted for the later strategy while dithering over the real cause now have the blood of over 2000 Americans on their hands.

Of course, Vitamin E Acetate may not be the only culprit.  Other additives may also be to blame, as can perhaps the toxic cadmium fumes from cheaply-made and janky vaping devices and cartridges often made overseas (which can also be true for counterfeit nicotine vapes too, by the way).  And possibly pesticide contamination as well.  But again, in any case regulation would still work far better than prohibition to really get to the root of the problem.

As for the youth vaping epidemic driven by nicotine vapes, which is often disingenuously conflated with the mystery vaping illness, the best way to quash that is to raise the tax on nicotine-containing vape products, cap and phase-down the nicotine content of vape products down to European and Israeli levels, strictly enforce the existing age limit of 18 on vendors rather than raise it to 21, restrict vape advertising to be similar to the way it currently is for combustible tobacco products, and stop hyping this ridiculous moral panic so damn much for once.

So what are we waiting for?