NEW YORK (AP) Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed landmark legislation Tuesday banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21, making New York the first large city or state in the country to prohibit sales to young adults.
During a brief ceremony at City Hall, Bloomberg said raising the legal purchase age from 18 to 21 will help prevent young people from experimenting with tobacco at the age when they are most likely to become addicted. City health officials say 80 percent of smokers start before age 21.
The mayor, a former smoker, also signed legislation setting a minimum price for all cigarettes sold in the city $10.50 per pack. The same new law bans retailers from offering coupons, 2 for 1 specials, or other discounts.
In signing the bills, Bloomberg turned away criticism that the measures would be economically harmful to thousands of city convenience stores and possibly lead to job losses.
“This is an issue of whether we are going to kill people,” Bloomberg said. People who raise the economic argument, he said, “really ought to look in the mirror and be ashamed.”
The ban does have limitations. People under age 21 can still possess tobacco legally, they just can’t buy it. Underage smokers will still be able to steal cigarettes from their parents, bum them from friends, stock up during trips beyond city limits or buy them from the black market dealers common in many neighborhoods.
Young smokers puffing away outside the main library at New York University on Tuesday ridiculed the law as an infringement on personal freedoms and questioned whether it would really lead to reduced smoking rates.
“I think Bloomberg has just exponentially increased the fake ID industry in New York,” said Jakob Sacksofsky Bereck, age 19.
“It’s obviously going to make life more complicated, said fellow student Josh Kundert Gibbs, also 19. “We are going to have to buy in bulk.”
Both said, though, that they regretted ever having started smoking in the first place.
City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the idea is to make it more inconvenient for young people to start smoking regularly, especially young teens who now have easy access to cigarettes through slightly older peers.
“Right now, an 18 year old can buy for a 16 year old,” he said. Once the law takes effect, in 180 days, Farley said, that 16 year old would “have to find someone in college or out in the workforce.”
The city estimated that there are 27,000 New Yorkers ages 18 to 20 who smoke.
Tobacco companies and some retailers had opposed the age increase, saying it would simply drive people to the city’s thriving black market.
“What are you really accomplishing? It’s not like they are going to quit smoking. Why? Because there are so many other places they can buy cigarettes,” said Jim Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores. “Every 18 year old who walks out of a convenience store is just going to go to the guy in the white van on the corner.”
Large cigarette companies now commonly offer merchants incentives to run price promotions to bring in new customers. Those discounts, though, will be banned by the new law, which aims to keep the price of cigarettes high as a way of deterring smokers. The city already has the nation’s highest cigarette taxes.
Calvin said the elimination of discounts would further feed the drift away from legal cigarettes, and toward illicit supplies brought into the city by dealers who buy them at greatly reduced prices in other states, where tobacco taxes are low.
Both bills were passed by the City Council late last month. The legislation also prohibits the sale of small cigars in packages of less than 20 and increases penalties for retailers that violate sales regulations.
Cheap cigarettes
Cheap Cigarettes Australia
Welcome to our online site “Cheap Cigarettes Australia.”
Cheap cigarettes Australia online store offers different brands of cigarettes. Shipping is free anywhere within Australia. We don' t deliver outside Australia.
Our brands are popular such as Marlboro Red cigarettes and Marlboro Gold cigarettes, Shisha Tobacco (Sheesha Tobacco, Argila Tobacco or Nargila Tobacco) such as El Nakhla Tobacco and Al Fakher Tobacco.
You must be at least 18 years old to purchase premium discount cheap cigarettes Australia
All orders are sent from Melbourne via Australia Post Express service.
LIMITED EDITION MANCHESTER SILVER CIGARETTES $111.00 PER CARTON 10 x 20' s packs.
BIG MISTAKE
However, our minimum order is four cartons, it' s a “Big Mistake” to make first order of four cartons same brand! We always suggest that you order four different brands for your first order. The point is you can try different brands and pick the best flavour you like. Then, for following orders, you know which brand you like the best!
Delivery Information
“Cheap Cigarettes Australia” is shipping all our products from Melbourne.
Any order will be delivered directly to your door within 1 and 3 days (usually within 48 hours.)
“Cheap Cigarettes Australia” guarantee there are no more taxes/ hidden fees to be added. Please note that if you order from any other overseas website, there will be high risk to pay taxes. We are based in Melbourne, and we guarantee the best prices in Australia.
Shipping is FREE anywhere within Australia from “Cheap Cigarettes Australia”.
Minimum order is four cartons from cheap cigarettes Australia.
Due to Customs regulations, “Cheap Cigarettes Australia” delivers orders of cigarettes only within Australia. We don t accept any cigarettes orders to be sent overseas such as New Zealand nor UK.
Our products (Cartons of cigarettes and packs of Shisha tobacco) will be shipped from “Cheap Cigarettes Australia” via Australia Express Mail Service.
CHEAP CIGARETTES AUSTRALIA SPECIAL
- Pack of Double Happiness 20' s for $10.60
- Pack of DJ Menthol Cigarettes 20' s for $7.00
- El Nakhla Shisha Tobacco Double Apple 250 gms for $60.00
Payment Information from ” Cheap Cigarettes Australia”
You can pay for your cheap premium cigarettes by direct debit to our CBA business account.
Guaranteed from ” Cheap Cigarettes Australia”
“Cheap Cigarettes Australia” does NOT report any information about our consumers to any authorities.
Keywords you may use to find our website ” Cheap Cigarettes Australia”
Cheap cigarettes Australia
Crazy cigarettes Australia
Australian cigarettes
Winfield cigarettes
Marlboro cigarettes
Discount cigarettes Australia
Would you like to get such a nice handmade designer tobacco pouches?
Just add the code STASCH2013 to get 25% Discount n Free Shipping!
/
Smoking and Health
Tobacco products, including cigarettes, are dangerous and addictive. There is overwhelming medical and scientific evidence that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and other serious diseases.
Addiction All tobacco products are addictive. It can be very difficult to quit smoking, but this should not deter smokers who want to quit from trying to do so.
Secondhand Smoke
Public health officials have concluded that secondhand smoke from cigarettes causes serious diseases in non smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease. We believe the public health conclusions on secondhand smoke are sufficient to support smoking restrictions in public places.
It' s illegal to sell tobacco products to a person under 18 and it is illegal to purchase a tobacco product for use by a person under 18.