Alabama raised the minimum legal sales age to 21 years to purchase tobacco products.
MONTGOMERY — The Alabama state legislature and the office of Republican Gov. Kay Ivey implemented new legislation that would raise the minimum legal sales age for the purchase of tobacco, possession, and transportation from 19 years to 21 years.
House Bill (HB) 273 targets both tobacco and electronic nicotine products such as vaping devices and other electronic cigarettes.
The new law also intends to prevent addiction and potential health crises, including lung cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and far more diagnosis cases.
House Bill 273 also imposes “restrictions on marketing of certain nicotine products.”
Upon reviewing the ratified legislation, these nicotine product marketing restrictions apply to virtually every alternative nicotine product publicly available on the market.
“Any product made or derived from tobacco that is intended for human consumption, including any component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product, except for raw materials other than tobacco used in manufacturing a component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product but does not include an article that is a drug under Section 201(g)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, a device under Section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or a combination product described in Section 503(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,” notes the legislation.
The bill was introduced by State Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile. She served as the main sponsor of the bill.
Drummond added that the bill would align Alabam state law with federal law to ensure continuity in the regulation of tobacco product retail.
“The simple truth is that these products are dangerous, highly addictive, and they are killing our young people,” said Drummond in a report published by AL.com in March.
Former President Donald Trump signed legislation at the end of 2019 to increase the national minimum legal sales age from 18 years to 21 years.
To comply with that, state regulatory authorities already mandated that tobacco permit holders throughout Alabama abide by federal law or risk losing their sales license.
