Tobacco 21

United States, federal statute preceded by local and state laws. The federal minimum age of 21 for the sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, took effect on 20 December 2019 when the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-94) amended section 906(d) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Needham, Massachusetts adopted the first Tobacco 21 ordinance in 2005; Hawaii was the first state in 2016 and California followed the same year; by the federal law's passage nineteen states had acted. Primary text: the FDA Tobacco 21 page and the Congress.gov record of H.R.1865.

Why 21: the large majority of adult smokers begin before 21, and 18-year-olds are the main social source of cigarettes for younger teenagers. A 2015 Institute of Medicine report modelled that raising the age to 21 would cut smoking initiation among 15- to 17-year-olds substantially and reduce lung cancer deaths over the following decades. Evaluations of Needham and of early adopting states found falls in youth smoking relative to comparison areas.

The arguments: retailers and some libertarians object to treating legal adults of 18 differently; public health advocates point out that alcohol has had the same threshold since 1984. Outside the United States, the United Kingdom's Tobacco and Vapes Bill proposes a rising age so that anyone born from 2009 can never legally be sold tobacco, following a similar New Zealand law that was repealed in 2024 before taking effect.