Tobacco and vaping was the topic at the state capitol Monday, as lawmakers look ahead to the 2020 session and introduce efforts to stem teen addiction.
Momentum appears to be gaining to raise the statewide age to purchase tobacco products, including vaping products, to 21, as dozens of local municipalities have already done.
Republican Sens. Paul Anderson and Carla Nelson are working alongside DFL Reps. Heather Edelson and Patty Acomb for a statewide Tobacco 21 measure, as well as an education component to show the dangers of vaping and nicotine addiction, and banning the sale of flavored tobacco products.
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"We've allowed companies to target (kids), saying it's better than smoking," Edelson said. "We know not only adults are dying, but our kids are getting sick. We are going to see more addiction than we ever had and we don't even know the long term impacts of this."
"I go back to graduating a few years ago," Anderson said, "where we had smoking pits behind the football stadium. Today you have vaping in the back row of the classroom. These are in such small units, the size of a USB stick, a memory stick that students can conceal, they're odorless. This is a situation that's happening in every classroom in middle school and high school."
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A group of DFL House members are also initiating Tobacco 21 statewide, which was first introduced last session, but did not receive a hearing. Nelson says she's hopeful it will land right back in the Health and Human Services Committee when legislator reconvene.
Convenience store owners continue to speak out against these kinds of tobacco laws, saying they hurt business.
The legislative session begins February 11, 2020.
