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Kane County IL May be Raising The Legal Tobacco Purchasing Age to 21

Kane County, may become the 20th locale in the state of Illinois to require residents to be 21 or above, in order to be able to purchase and possess tobacco products including e-cigarettes and other safer alternatives.

Diane Caruana

April 19, 2018

Earlier this month and after months of research by local city staff, the City Council of another locale in Illinois, Aurora, also voted unanimously to raise the age limit to purchase tobacco and vaping products to 21. In fact, up until now a total of eighteen other municipalities in Illinois, including Chicago, Evanston, Naperville and Bolingbrook, have already implemented such an age limit.

A study published earlier this month, indicated that contrary to recent media reports, vaping is commonly prevalent only amongst smoking teens, in which case it is serving as a harm reduction tool.

The debate in Kane County was renewed last Wednesday following a county health ranking which indicated that 14% of the county’s adult population smokes. Additionally, an online survey created by the Kane County Public Health Department, received over 600 responses which support the increase in legal age.

Executive director of the health department, Barb Jeffers, who was also present when the legal age was raised in Aurora, told the county board members that it is time it’s time such a motion is implemented. “The compelling argument there was a resource officer from one of the schools came in with three, gallon-sized bags of vaping products. They are having problems with these all throughout the high schools. The students are using them all the time,” she said.

Putting things in the right perspective

Placing e-cigs on the same shelf as regular cigarettes and regulating them in the same way, could prove detrimental to public health.

On a different note, despite agreeing that young adults should not have access to deadly cigarettes, public health experts have long been pointing out that placing e-cigarettes on the same shelf as regular cigarettes and regulating them in the same way, could prove detrimental to public health.

It is a well known fact, that most smokers have their first cigarettes in their early teens, and e-cigarettes are proven to be the most effective smoking cessation tools available to date. Therefore it would make sense to have the devices available as smoking cessation aids for adolescents who are already struggling with a tobacco addiction.

Infact, a study published on the American Journal of Preventive Medicine earlier this month, indicated that contrary to recent media reports, vaping is commonly prevalent only amongst smoking teens, in which case it is serving as a harm reduction tool.

Read Further: Daily Herald