House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said at a Nov. 18 panel discussion convened by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce that they will support legislation raising the smoking age.
That’s welcome news in the face of estimates that more than 90% of adult smokers start as teenagers.
The group adopted the sweeping stance at a policy-making meeting in San Diego. It aims to lobby for state and federal laws, regulations or legal action to achieve a ban, but the industry is sure to fight back.
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce on Monday said one of its top legislative priorities was to get state lawmakers to pass laws to decrease the smoking rate of Hoosiers and get vaping products out of the hands of young people.
Between 2012 and 2018, usage among Indiana high school students increased 387% and nearly as much among middle schoolers. The results have been life-threatening illnesses and deaths.
Joe Anderson, 62, is executive director of protective services for Methodist, University and Riley hospitals, responsible for physical security for more than 4,500 employees and property of more than 10 million square feet.
The logic for hiking the purchase age for cigarettes and other products is clear: most underage teens who use e-cigarettes or tobacco get them from older friends.
Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18.
Indy E Cigs opened its doors in 2013, and we currently employ more than 40 Hoosiers in our 10 retail locations along with our wholesale and manufacturing headquarters; we take our corporate responsibility seriously when it comes to preventing youth from getting access to vapor products.
The lawsuit describes a “reckless” and “win-at-all costs” culture at Juul, primarily driven by the company’s former CEO, Kevin Burns, who was replaced in a management shake-up last month.
The latest lawsuit says the company targeted young people for its flavored e-cigarettes without warning that the products were highly addictive and dangerous.
According to the Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey released Aug. 29 by the State Department of Health, more than 65,000 Indiana high school students are using e-cigarettes. That’s enough to fill Lucas Oil Stadium.
The recent lawsuits against manufacturers of opioids (including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt and others) bear a striking similarity to lawsuits against the tobacco companies a few years ago.
Indiana health officials are investigating 30 cases of severe lung injury linked to vaping. Eight of those have been confirmed—most of them among individuals between the ages of 16 and 29. Earlier this month, the state confirmed the first death linked to vaping.
