Selling tobacco to anyone under age 21 became illegal in California on Thursday, marking a milestone in an ongoing shift in American policies on tobacco use.

 

The new law is part of a sweeping package of antismoking measures that Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in May. In addition to raising the minimum smoking age, it defines e-cigarettes as tobacco products – an attempt to address the tripling of e-cigarette use among middle and high school students from 2013 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

 

The laws signify the continuing potency of the sea change in attitudes around tobacco that started in the 1980s. While the tobacco industry resisted the restrictions on some fronts – winning an exception for active-duty military personnel, for instance – the effort to cast tobacco as a public-health issue continues to gain momentum. (The Christian Science Monitor)