MICHIGAN, USA — The minimum age to buy tobacco products in Michigan has been raised from 18 to 21.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed it into law Thursday, aligning the legal age with the federal standard.
The law applies to all tobacco products, like cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes.
A local health official says while there are long-term health consequences to smoking, young adults can also be impacted at an early age.
"What we do see are people experiencing high blood pressure, accelerated heart rate, respiratory irritation," Libby Stern, clinical program specialist with the tobacco and nicotine treatment program at Spectrum Health, says. "They get sick more often. So they're more susceptible to colds and flus and COVID."
Studies show that four out of five young adults who start smoking say they became addicted by the age of 21, and 95 percent of adult smokers say they picked up the habit as teenagers.
"It's really considered a pediatric or youth addiction most often because by far, people end up experimenting in youth more easily, particularly if they can get the products from peers in school," Stern says.
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