Law Texas bans tobacco for 18-21 - Because they're only adults when we need debt slaves or cannon fodder

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed Senate Bill 21 into law, which will end the sale of tobacco products to those under 21. Supporters say increasing the minimum age by three years should reduce the risk of addiction.

Abbott on Friday signed the legislation, which covers cigarettes, e-cigarettes or other tobacco products. The only exception to the law is for those in the military.

The law will go into effect September 1.

Anyone caught breaking this new law, the bill states, will face a Class C misdemeanor and a fine of up to $500.

Texas is among a growing number of states raising the tobacco age. Illinois signed similar legislation in May. States where the legal age is already 21 include Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Maine and Massachusetts. Laws will take effect later this year in Arkansas and Virginia.

Shelby Massey with the American Heart Association told CNN affiliate KXAN-TV, "Delaying the age when young people first begin to use tobacco -- the leading cause of preventable death -- will reduce the risk they will develop a deadly addiction."

The number of middle and high school tobacco users increased by 36% between 2017 and 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The increase, the CDC states, is due to the "surge in e-cigarette use."

"The skyrocketing growth of young people's e-cigarette use over the past year threatens to erase progress made in reducing youth tobacco use. It's putting a new generation at risk for nicotine addiction," said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield.

Texas21, a coalition of organizations whose mission is to prevent tobacco use and raise the tobacco age to 21, said 7.4% of Texas high school students smoke. It said about 95% of smokers start before 21.

The CDC said white high school students (32.4%) and Hispanic middle school students (9.5%) used the most tobacco products in their grade categories.

CNN's Emanuella Grinberg contributed to this report.
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Texas governor signs law increasing the age to buy tobacco products to 21

Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law Friday, it will go into effect September 1.

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Mind you, the age of consent for sex is 17 here.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

To be honest, 25 should be the age of majority. Your brain doesn't stop fully developing by then and it makes sense to not have them do stuff. 18 year olds are idiots. They've never held down a real job, paid a mortgage/rent, made important financial decisions or even really lived long enough to understand how the world works. I honestly think no one should be allowed to vote, enlist, marry, adopt, etc. until they are 25.

If they aren't an adult until 25 that means they won't get any experience being an adult until 25. So then do we push it to 30?

What if we actually need to experience being responsible for ourselves while we are still developing? Maybe maturing to adulthood without having to take care of yourself prevents development?

 

[Maxliam]

If they aren't an adult until 25 that means they won't get any experience being an adult until 25. So then do we push it to 30?

What if we actually need to experience being responsible for ourselves while we are still developing? Maybe maturing to adulthood without having to take care of yourself prevents development?

I suppose that's a good point. Honestly raise everything to 21 then. No drinking, no smoking, no voting, no enlisting, etc. until you're 21. By then you've (hopefully) been out of high school long enough to understand working a bit for a living or something. The reason AOC and Bernie get so much traction is people with no real life experience/still in high school love the fuckers. When you see your paycheck is at stake from all their faggy pet projects, it'll change your tune.

 

[Sped Xing]

The whole "your brain develops until 25" meme is a bit tedious, since your brain NEVER stops changing; it's a dynamic system. And I don't just mean that in the sense of unimportant, inconsistent changes. Sixty year old brains are different from Thirty year old brains in ways that are predictable.

The brain is also not the only organ that matters. If 25 is the age of majority, an awful lot of women are going to be getting bred as children, else we will need to accept a significant reduction in fertility rates.

 

[Maxliam]

The whole "your brain develops until 25" meme is a bit tedious, since your brain NEVER stops changing; it's a dynamic system. And I don't just mean that in the sense of unimportant, inconsistent changes. Sixty year old brains are different from Thirty year old brains in ways that are predictable.

The brain is also not the only organ that matters. If 25 is the age of majority, an awful lot of women are going to be getting bred as children, else we will need to accept a significant reduction in fertility rates.

True but the problem is that all these idealistic fucking kids are ruining shit because any old kike or Mrs. Ed motherfucker can promise them these pie in the sky dreams to a bunch of non-tax paying voters and really screw us over like the other countries that try to socialize every fucking thing.

 

[Sped Xing]

As someone else pointed out, it is well to argue that immature college students behave the way they do thanks to culture, rather than inherent biology.

Are their brains too young, or are they acting like infants because modern culture values childishness?

 

[Trilby]

To be honest, 25 should be the age of majority. Your brain doesn't stop fully developing by then and it makes sense to not have them do stuff. 18 year olds are idiots. They've never held down a real job, paid a mortgage/rent, made important financial decisions or even really lived long enough to understand how the world works. I honestly think no one should be allowed to vote, enlist, marry, adopt, etc. until they are 25.

Reminded in North Korea they wouldn't let you marry until after you completed 10 years of military service (roughly late 20's/early 30's).

 

[Beluga]

As far as I know, the only way to discourage smoking in general is to just hike up the prices of cigarettes and tobacco. That's what they did in my country and the number of smokers decreased fairly rapidly, plus the health ministry came up with many, many, many mandatory prevention programmes in middle and high schools which, in general, kind of worked. Banning tobacco won't work and may actually be counterproductive because it could create a kind of taboo around smoking.

 

[Wesley Willis]

Why is everybody abandoning mainstream politics (left and right)? Because they're both increasingly authoritarian. Don't mess with Texas my ass. The citizens fucking voted in favor of increasing their own taxes for a football stadium. It wasn't even forced on them by politicians like it is in other places.

Like they give a fuck about your health, anyway. The taxpayers subsidize 99% of the overhead cost of corn syrup. It's basically diabetic socialism.

 

[Diana Moon Glampers]

The "debt slaves" subheadline is accurate. Recently I learned that college student loans, in any amount and from any source, contracted with an under-18, are totally enforceable and you can sign yourself into debt slavery at 14-16 pretty easily if you're a smart enough kid to be signing up for college credits early.

 

[BeepMareep]

The whole "your brain develops until 25" meme is a bit tedious, since your brain NEVER stops changing; it's a dynamic system. And I don't just mean that in the sense of unimportant, inconsistent changes. Sixty year old brains are different from Thirty year old brains in ways that are predictable.

The brain is also not the only organ that matters. If 25 is the age of majority, an awful lot of women are going to be getting bred as children, else we will need to accept a significant reduction in fertility rates.

The chances of birth defects go up when women hit 30, so that would only give a 5 year ideal window. Being a legal adult at 21 or 25 would make it worse, having no experience as being an adult, but more experience at being a child. You finish high school at 18, so that's a pretty good age to start adulting and making dumb mistakes to learn from them.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

I see the health arguments about how cigs are dangerous and deadly, but my counterargument is:

So? It's dangerous to ride my motorcycle over ramps and jump 6 flaming schoolbuses, and I'm allowed to do that. Hell, I can do that with a learner's permit at like 16 years old! It's dangerous to eat 40 super hot chicken wings in 5 minutes. Anyone can do that! They'll give a prize even! Caffeine is addictive and can be harmful, you can buy all that shit you want if you're tall enough to reach the counter.

Everyone's talking about the best way to make people stop smoking. Have you considered, perhaps, it's none of your goddamn business? Oh wow, people when they are first given freedom make some stupid choices with that freedom. That would happen at the age of 50 if that's the first time you got to be an adult.

Also, specifically on smoking, the logic is complete bull, because most kids start smoking WAY before 18. And wait a minute, now can't those 21 year old college seniors buy cigs for the 18 year old freshmen?

Finally, the fact that fucking juul, a nicotine company, is pushing this should tell you IT'S FUCKING BAD.

 

[Sped Xing]

Killing a man and wasting an hour of his time differ only in degree. I'm so glad we decided to ban everything that's bad so we can live long, productive lives carefully producing energy for our betters to feed on