Valley smoke shop owner reacts to new legal age to buy tobacco products
Dec 31, 2019, 4:35 AM | Updated: 12:00 pm
(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
PHOENIX — The federal legal age to buy tobacco products has been raised from 18 to 21, leaving a Valley smoke shop owner concerned about how it will impact his business.
“This is going to affect us,” said Shawn Mehsin, owner of JJ Smoke and Vapor Shop in Phoenix. “We have a lot of customers that are between 18 and 21.”
Mehsin said he expects to lose customers.
“When you’re 18, it should be like you’re free to make your own choices – your own decisions,” he added.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration officially changed the federal minimum age to buy tobacco last week. But Mehsin said he has not received any notice from the FDA about the change.
In an email to KTAR News 92.3 FM, a spokeswoman for the FDA said the new age limit went into effect immediately.
“It is now illegal for a retailer to sell any tobacco product – including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes – to anyone under 21,” the FDA posted on its website. “FDA will provide additional details on this issue as they become available.”
The FDA website states it was updated on Dec. 20, the same day President Donald Trump signed legislation to approved the new age limit.
In a tweet, FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn called it “a major step in protecting the next generation of children from becoming addicted to tobacco products.”
Amanda Wheeler, executive director of the Arizona Smoke Free Business Alliance and owner of two vape shops in Prescott, agreed. She said the higher age limit will make it more difficult for young people to get tobacco products.
“Since there are a lot of 18 years old that are still seniors in high school, it makes it really easy to buy those products and sell them to their underage peers at school,” she said. “We feel that raising that age creates a buffer zone between underage users that are in high school and legal adults who are able to use the products.”
