Higher age for buying tobacco draws support

More than a dozen anti-smoking advocates and others called on Ulster County lawmakers Tuesday evening to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products in the county.

Only two of the 20 speakers at a public hearing held by the county Legislature spoke against raising the purchase age to 21.

Vincent Martello, director of community health with the Ulster County Health Department, said that by increasing the age to purchase cigarettes, the county can reduce the possibility that today’s youth will become tomorrow’s adult smokers.

“It’s not about quitting smoking, it’s about preventing initiation,” Martello said.

“An adult’s number one job is to raise healthy children,” said Rosendale resident Checko Miller. “If you take your responsibility as an adult seriously, enacting this law is a nobrainer.”

The Legislature is considering a proposal by County Executive Michael Hein to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. It currently is 18.

Hein has said the law would reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths and make Ulster County healthier. The measure is supported by numerous health organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society.

Melinda Herzog of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County said 95 percent of adult smokers began smoking before they turned 21.

Alex Stiers, owner of the Olive Country Store on state Route 28, said the proposed law would reduce the number of cigarettes he can legally sell, and he questioned whether it would keep kids from smoking.

“Maybe [the law] should be changed to make it illegal to possess,” Stiers said, adding that rather than passing more laws, government should make people take more responsibility for themselves.

Jim Calvin, president of the New York State Association of Convenience Stores, echoed that sentiment, saying raising the age won’t stop youths from getting cigarettes.

In 2017, former Legislator TJ Briggs, D-Ellenville, introduced a resolution that would have made it illegal for people under the age of 18 to possess cigarettes, though he withdrew the proposal when it became clear it would not pass.

On Thursday, a similar proposal was defeated in a Dutchess County Legislature committee.

Julie Hart, government relations director for the American Cancer Society, said the measure was defeated following concerns raised by her group and others about an exemption in the Dutchess County law for members of the military. Hart said she is currently working with Dutchess County on a law that wouldn’t include the exemption.

She said if Dutchess had adopted its law as written, it would have been the only municipality of the 42 that have adopted the increased age to carve out an exemption for the military.