New Jersey became the third state to raise its smoking age to 21 after Republican Governor Chris Christie signed a bill that hikes the minimum age to buy tobacco products from 19. This change happened November 1st, 2017 and it has not done anything positive.
The law was passed to stop people from smoking but what it did was destroy businesses, cause people to go out of their way to buy tobacco and make a bunch of smokers get extremely bad headaches from going cold turkey so suddenly.
A lot of parents are happy that their kids can’t smoke at 19 anymore but when has that ever stopped someone from purchasing something they are addicted to? You can’t just change a law and make people who have been smoking for years to quit. The worst part is that they weren’t even grandfathered in, which is usually the procedure when the law changes when you are in between ages.
Not only that but it is destroying businesses. Many vape store owners, who rely on their customers to come back and buy their products saw an extreme decrease in profit since they can no longer sell nicotine products to people who are 19 and 20. That may seem small but the amount of people who smoke at that age is extremely large. Can you imagine losing all those customers?
Also, stores in North Jersey are facing a lot of heat. Since they are only a fifteen/ twenty-minute drive from New York, they are seeing their customers go to New York to purchase their tobacco products since the age to legally buy it is 18 in New York. Broad Smoke Shop in New Milford is facing this problem since the main age group they sell to is college kids because they are near two major universities.
Not only can they not sell products to their most faithful and frequent customers, the cops are starting to crack down even harder on these businesses as if they weren’t suffering enough. Some customers come in with fake IDs that scan, which is hard to tell for even the owners. Due to their inability to notice a fake, which can be very hard that times, they are facing fines that could ruin their business. Multiple store owners have gone to court due to fake IDs that they could not have prevented. To minimize this issue they are not accepting any licenses that are out of state, which can be a huge blow to business. If they don’t abide by these rules they can face major fines, ranging to up to 5,000 dollars and can get their stores closed down. So not only are they losing business they are being fined for issues that they could have not even prevented.
Another issue they face is that they cannot sell any products that people underage can inhale. Even products with no nicotine cannot be sold to minors. This includes vape juice without nicotine content, which is clearly outrageous. They can’t buy water pipes either which is a major source of income to these stores.
Another issue pops up, it is legal to own a gun at the age of 18, which is questionable in itself. Under federal law, the minimum age to buy a handgun is 21 but if it is purchased from a private unlicensed seller one can purchase a gun at 18. If one wants to buy a rifle like AR-15s and shotguns the minimum age is 18. There have been 30 mass shootings in 2018 and almost no gun reform laws have passed. It feels like the government is more concerned about people not smoking than literal terrorist attacks. Not only that but people can go to war at 18 but can’t have a smoke. This country is going downhill fast.
Overall this law was unnecessary and is only causing damage to store owners who are struggling not to get fined. People who have quit cigarettes and transferred to the vape are even going back to smoking cigarettes since it is much easier not to get carded for a pack than at a vape store. It was Christie’s last attempt at putting another bogus law into effect before his time ran out. There is a reason we voted you out Christie, have fun at the beach while you still can.
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