Representative Richard Creagan of the US state of Hawaii wants to protect not only young people, but all under 100 years from smoking. His bill proposes gradually to increase the minimum age for the purchase of cigarettes. At the end it should be at 100 years.
Creagan is a doctor and sits for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. He wants to fight with the proposal „the deadliest product in the history of humanity“. Currently, smokers are „enslaved by a ridiculously evil industry that has developed a cigarette that is highly addictive and highly lethal,“ Creagan told Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
Hawaii allows cigarette purchase from 21
Under current law, people in Hawaii may buy cigarettes over the age of 21. Creagan’s plan is to increase this age to 30 years by next year. In 2021 it will then be further increased to 40 years, 2022 to 50 and 2023 to 60. From 2024 then only people who have completed the hundredth year of life, should buy cigarettes.
According to the health authority CDCP, nearly 500,000 people die from cigarette smoking in the US every year. It is thus the country’s leading cause of preventable diseases and deaths.
