Tempe City Council is slated to vote on an updated tobacco ordinance that would raise the legal purchasing age to 21 and establish a new tobacco seller’s license at its Oct. 26 meeting following the item’s final public hearing.
Adolescent brains are particularly susceptible to the addictive properties of nicotine, with estimates showing that 5.6 million adolescents aged 0 to 17 are projected to die prematurely from commercial tobacco-related illnesses if the rate of adolescent tobacco use does not change, according to the city’s ordinance.
“In 2015, the Institute of Medicine… concluded that raising the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products nationwide would reduce tobacco initiation, particularly among adolescents aged 15 to 17,” the ordinance stated.
