City Council Debates Cigarette Age Limit Purchase

Maritza Bond
City Health Director Maritza Bond.

From Brian Lockhart, CT Post:

The council’s Ordinance Committee this week voted 4 to 3 to make Bridgeport the second municipality in Connecticut to raise the age limit for purchasing cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other natural or synthetic tobacco products from 18 to 21.

“What we are proposing is really to restrict the access of youths … to these products,” Maritza Bond, Bridgeport’s health director, told the committee. She cited a 2017 Connecticut Youth Tobacco Survey that found younger teenagers have access to such products through older high school friends.

“We’re not really trying to target current smokers,” Bond added.

But the proposal, scheduled for a Jan. 22 public hearing, was watered down following a debate sparked by some council members with nicotine habits. Councilman Marcus Brown, a committee co-chairman and smoker, successfully amended the age increase to exempt anyone 18 years old as of the date the law would take effect if approved by the full council.

“What happens to the 20-year-old (who has been) smoking for two years?” Brown said in defense of his change, adding later: “We are literally telling people what they can or cannot do at an age they were doing it already.”

Full story here.

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15 comments

  1. If it’s really about the youth and their access one has to describe the age limit of a youths and young adult. Are we saying 18, 19, & 20 are consider youths or are we restricting their accesses. Since we are talking about a drug and the access to youths along with their ability to fully understand the addiction of it and the concept. While it is an easy choice to start and it is a drug. It’s not a easy choice to stop. In my opinion 17 to 20 are adolescent adults 21 to 25 are young adults. So restricting access to youths the ordinance should restricted to their access to adolescent youths i.e high school. Raise the age to 20. Speaking on the topic of smoke and weed is something I also support and with the passing of GHB. I depart with this. Thank you Jesus 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxJIX34-m8g

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  2. The City Council should not be bothering with this meaningless adventure. Smoking/Tobacco rules are in the Federal/ State Government realm. This a an adventure that makes the City Council look like they are doing something. BTW..Can Ernest Newton or Eneida Martinez(the Anti-Semite on the CC) give us any update on WPCA billing standards. HAPPY HANUKKAH TO ALL MY JEWISH FRIENDS.

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  3. C’mon city council, there are a myriad of problems that you could and should be dealing with rather than restricting the rights of Bridgeport’s youth. You’re telling 18 to 20 year olds that you can fight and die in the military for your rights, but you can’t buy a pack of cigarettes. If you get in trouble you can be prosecuted as an adult and spend the rest of your life in prison, yet you aren’t adult enough to buy a pack of cigarettes.

    Fight for the rights of Bridgeport’s 18 to 20 year olds to get jobs in the police and fire departments over suburban 18 to 20 year olds, while sending millions of tax dollars to uplift the suburban community. Fight for the rights of 18 to 20 year old Bridgeport women to become firefighter’s like they had done for over 30 years prior to David Dunn becoming Director of Civil Service. Fight for the rights of 18 to 20 year olds to recieve a quality education so that they can compete educationally in this America.

    City council members, let’s work on the big stuff that will really help the 18 to 20 year olds and not sweat the small things.

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    1. Don, the City Council is learning how to throw a new shinny object out there to deflect from the real work that they should be like the items that you listed that will really help these 18 to 20 young adults to become productive citizens, workers, taxpayers and voters. The entire 20 Democrats on the City Council need to be primary and voted out of office.

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  4. Day this not about restricting the rights of 18 to 20 year old’s. It about restricting the revenue of an industry. A very lucrative business. I still believe e- cigs to less harmful then the traditional method of delivering nicotine, cigarettes, and nicotine is a drug has a far less reaching impact on someone life, behavior or society at large that other things that are acceptable like alcohol, be it the increase aggression or impaired driving. It’s not even as harmful as our internal addition, sex. That starts off as a from of satisfaction but as time goes by the need to “keep it interesting” to manifest the orgasm, (high) It can get pretty harmful to one personal life (Happiness) to where you find yourself having sex in on the job, in a car in a public garage. Unlike all other drug addiction this one is not a choice. How low it can go, from a casual drink or two to a full blown alcoholic, from a line or two to a full blown cokehead or crackhead. Butt in the end it has to be manifested and the crash far exceeds the the brief, satisfaction, not to mention the depression or anger that can follows. Choose wisely people, or should I day use wisely. but lets keep up are walk, SMBH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRu_-9MBpd4

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  5. So basically most high school students graduate at 18. So you can reach your goal of access to younger students form older students by just raising the age one year to 19. If this measure is truly about access to youths through old classmate than have to be 19 to buy e-cigs will do the job. TWT.

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  6. Such nonsense………………..
    Only in Bridgeport will CT adults not be able to purchase cigarettes.
    Only in Bridgeport will legitimate merchants have their sales and profits cut by local government.
    18-21 year old smokers need only cross the street to legally purchase cigarettes in Stratford, Trumbull, or Fairfield.

    How short sighted is the Bridgeport City Council?
    There are far more important things that are under local control to deal with.

    An age change is meaningless unless it is statewide or countrywide.

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      1. Senseless………………..
        How many of us are old enough to remember Friday runs to Portchester, NY to buy booze when it was 18 in NY and 21 in CT?
        It’s all or nothing to make it work.
        There are multiple Bridgeport members of the state legislature. Better the Council passed a resolution calling ion them to sponsor a statewide bill to raise the age limit, The current action is a waste of time and resources.

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  7. I don’t drink or smoke and I have seen the effects of smoking and alcohol had had on my family and people I know. Changing the smoking age is going to have the same effect as gun laws and homicide. Considering the cost of tobbacco products and the insurance premium for a smoker. You would think by now the high stress jobs police, fire and EMS smoking would be frowned upon. Kids and people are going to smoke no matter what the health risks or cost.

    The City Council should put their effort into something else. Perhaps some education program at the 6th, 7th and 8th grade level that would discourage smoking. Since kids are so visual, show them the graphic effects of smoking.
    Let them hold a diseased lung or a coronary artery eaten away by cancer. Cancer caused by smoking. Even go as far as letting them know how smoking effects their life insurance premium. Give them a math lesson include the cost of a pack or carton of cigarettes and not the loosies you can buy in almost any store.

    The City Council should crack down on the stores that sell of loose cigarettes. Buying cigarette like that makes them affordable for anyone. Before too long someone else is hooked on this filthy habit.

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  8. Can a ruling by the CC supersede State law? I find that hard to believe. And what would stop them from going to Trumbull or Fairfield? Nice thought, but this is fluff.

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