It would effectively ban smoking entirely in the state of Hawaii.
Currently, under Irish law, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes.
That is the same age for the majority of America, with a few exceptions, one of them being the state of Hawaii, where the legal age is 21.
However, a Republican politician is looking to expand on that minimum age by quite a bit... 79 years, no less!
Richard Creagan wants to push out the legal age to buy cigarettes in his home state of Hawaii to 30 by the year 2020, 40 in 2021, 50 in 2022, 60 in 2023, and 100 in 2024.
This would effectively make it illegal to buy cigarettes in the state within five years.
Creagan told the
Hawaii Tribute-Herald:
"Basically, we essentially have a group who are heavily addicted - in my view, enslaved by a ridiculously bad industry - which has enslaved them by designing a cigarette that is highly addictive, knowing that it highly lethal. And, it is."
"We don’t allow people free access to opioids, for instance, or any prescription drugs."
"This is more lethal, more dangerous than any prescription drug, and it is more addicting. In my view, you are taking people who are enslaved from a horrific addiction, and freeing people from horrific enslavement. We, as legislators, have a duty to do things to save people’s lives. If we don’t ban cigarettes, we are killing people."
Cregan's new bill will be heard by the House Health Committee later this week, but while he effectively opposes the selling of cigarettes in general, he reportedly supports legalisation of marijuana because he said it’s not as addictive or as dangerous to a person’s health.
