Massive Cigarette Law Coming To Michigan Soon?
Cigarette usage has been one of not only our country's biggest problems but one of the biggest problems in the entire world as since the early 1900s big tobacco has been targeting teens and young adults while keeping a tight hold on the older adults they already got hooked. Even though cigarette usage has been such a big deal for so long, it is still one of the most overlooked topics out there.
We have seen other topics become a bigger issue and even be placed on restrictions, guidelines, or even a temporary ban. That's not the case with cigarettes though, instead the best the government has ever done to big tobacco to make them feel the effects of their actions is place a tax on their product and adjust the age to purchase them. This new law that may be coming to Michigan could change more than just that.
Let's take a trip across the pond to the UK where their cigarettes laws are unparalleled to everyone else's and there are even other countries like Australia paying attention to the outcome of these laws, if they do well, we could see some global change coming soon. Last Wednesday Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made an announcement about cigarette laws at the Conservative Party conference.
Prime Minster Sunak would go on to say England's smoking age would be raised annually, so a 14-year-old today will never be allowed to buy cigarettes legally. Meaning that when those 14-year-olds turn 21 the legal age for cigarettes will at least be 22 and will go up every calendar year. This also means that anyone born after the year of 2009 will never be able to purchase cigarettes legally since they will also be younger than the legal age.
Although these laws may work in other countries and as much as parents here in Michigan would love to keep their children from smoking cigarettes and being addicted to nicotine, I highly doubt the laws will ever be that restrictive here. Some believe the whole reason the government won't do what's right to stop big tobacco is the amount of money they make off taxes and such.
Classic Cigarette Vending Machines
Gallery Credit: Tommy Carroll