Group raps plan to raise tobacco sales age

The head of a trade organization that represents neighborhood convenience stores said a proposal by Ulster County Executive Michael Hein to raise the age for tobacco purchases to 21 is “based on a flawed assumption” and would cause businesses to “forfeit legitimate sales.”

In a press release issued Monday, Jim Calvin, president of the New York State Association of Convenience Stores, said instead of raising the age to purchase tobacco products, lawmakers should make it illegal for people under 18 to possess tobacco.

“If a higher purchase age truly would stop underage smoking, most stores in Ulster County would be willing to sacrifice their tobacco sales to 18, 19 and 20-year-olds,” he said. “Unfortunately, it won’t work, because there are too many ways for them to circumvent the purchase age. So why should responsible retailers have to forfeit legitimate sales?”

The Ulster County Legislature is scheduled to hold a public hearing at 6:15 p.m. on April 10 on a local law raising the age to 21 to purchase tobacco products in Ulster County.

Hein called on lawmakers in 2017 and again this year to raise the age, saying the move would reduce the number of tobaccorelated deaths and move Ulster County closer to becoming a healthier county.

“I understand that particular industry groups will oppose this kind of legislation,” Hein said Tuesday. “That said, the health and safety of our children as well as the ability to prevent horrific diseases like cancer, heart disease and lung disease and reduce those rates as a direct results of fewer people smoking is without question the over-riding interest.

“I will not put profits over children’s health,” he said.

The bill has been championed by a variety of health organizations, including the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.

According to the American Lung Association, a 2015 report from the National Academy of

Medicine found that raising the age of sale for tobacco products to at least 21 years old would reduce smoking by 25 percent among 15-17 year-olds and by 15 percent among those 18-20 years old.

In 2017, legislators banned the use of e-cigarettes anywhere on county property where the use of other tobacco products are banned, but declined to advance a law to raise the age.

Also that year, former

Legislator TJ Briggs, D-Ellenville, introduced a resolution that would have made it illegal for youngsters under the age of 18 to possess cigarettes, however, he withdrew the proposal when it became clear it would not pass the Legislature.

According to the state Health Department, a person must be 21 to purchase tobacco products and electronic cigarettes in New York City and Albany, Cattaragus, Chautauqua, Cortland, Onondaga, Orange, Schenectady, Suffolk, Sullivan and Tompkins counties and 19 in Nassau County.