Hawaii seeks to become the first state without tobacco

The Democrat Richard Creagan, representative of the State, proposed to raise gradually the minimum age to buy tobacco in Hawaii. According to local media,The bill establishes that the sale to all persons under 30 is prohibited, and from there, the required age is increased each year.

The proposal, also signed by representatives John Mizuno and Cynthia Thielen, aims to protect the public health of citizens. Creagan reported in local media that in Hawaii 140,000 people smoke cigarettes.

"They will die, half of them will die if they continue to smoke, and we can avoid it," he said. The representative denied that his proposal undermines the civil liberties of smokers.and badured that this is an argument that the tobacco industry has used to prevent the government from taking action.

"It's more deadly, more dangerous than a prescription drug, and more addictive (…) From my point of view, you take people who are enslaved to a terrible dependency, and you release them from this bondage"

The Democrat explained that the progressive ban is due to the badignment that this would entail for different programs, the loss of money generated by tobacco consumption (110 million USD per year). Recipients of this money include the UH Cancer Research Center and the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

The measure should be badyzed by a regional committee of the House of Representatives during this week. Hawaii was the first state not to allow the sale of cigarettes to people under 21.