Santa Clara County boosting age to buy tobacco to 21

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Santa-Clara-County-boosting-age-to-buy-tobacco-to-6317379.php

Come January 1, Santa Clara County will raise the tobacco purchasing age to 21 in its unincorporated areas, a move in line with growing public health concerns about access to younger users.

County superintendents voted unanimously Tuesday to pass the ordinance just a week after the Senate approved proposals to raise the purchasing age statewide. After passing 26-8, the state’s proposal must now go to the Assembly. Meanwhile, Santa Clara became the first county in the state to pass such legislation. In 2014, the city of Healdsburg approved a similar ordinance upping the minimum age to 21.

Now, retailers in the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County will have to check if buyers are 21 or older under threat of fines if they fail to pass a biannual inspection. The county already has a history limiting younger crowds’ tobacco access, including an ordinance officials passed in 2010 that bans retailers from selling tobacco within 1,000 feet of a school.

The Institute of Medicine released a March 2015 report claiming increasing the purchasing age can have a major health impact on young adults, one of the reasons Sara Cody, public health officer for the county, said she is “thrilled” with the ordinance, which will affect about 25 retailers.

Only 25 retailers because this applies only to unincorporated county pockets. In Burbank, completely surrounded by San Jose, all a youth would have to do if rejected would be to cross the street.

[Runningdawg]

1. If you are old enough to die for your country

then you are damned sure old enough to: vote, drink and smoke. Enforce the laws already on the books, make the penalties stiffer for businesses who violate them.