McConnell eyes national 21 minimum for tobacco
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he plans to introduce legislation to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 nationally, rating the health initiative as one of his top priorities.
The Senate leader said his bill will cover all tobacco products, including vaping devices.
The Kentucky Republican represents a state that for generations was a leading tobacco producer in the U.S. But tobacco production — once an economic lifeblood in rural Kentucky — has dropped dramatically for more than a decade in the state.
McConnell said his bill will continue to hold retailers responsible for verifying the age of anyone buying tobacco products. His office said 12 states have already enacted laws raising the minimum legal age to 21.
McConnell made the announcement at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky in Louisville, an organization that promotes health initiatives. The senator said he intends to introduce the bill next month.
“I hope and I expect this legislation to achieve strong bipartisan support in the Senate,” McConnell said. “As you all know, I’m in a particularly good position to enact legislation. And this is going to be a top priority that I’ll be working on.”
Smoking, the nation’s leading cause of preventable disease, is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths each year.
Smoking-related illness costs to society exceed $300 billion each year including $170 billion in direct medical costs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of 2017, about 34 million American adults smoked cigarettes, and every day about 2,000 youngsters under age 18 lit up their first cigarette, it said.
McConnell’s home state is plagued by high cancer rates connected to smoking.
The Kentucky Republican has been a key player in tobacco-related legislation before. More than a decade ago, McConnell helped win the multibillion-dollar tobacco buyout, which compensated U.S. tobacco growers and others for losing production quotas when the government’s price-support program ended.
McConnell said Thursday he considers teen vaping to be the “most serious threat” his new legislation will seek to combat. Vaping is an electronic form of smoking.