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Article published Jan 28, 2006
South Carolina lawmakers are already considering banning smoking in all bars and restaurants in the state.
Now, they'll also debate whether to raise the legal age for smoking to 21.
Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston, introduced the bill Thursday.
"I hear all the talk about raising the cigarette tax to keep children from smoking and I say, heck, I've got a way to do that -- make it illegal," he said.
The legal age for tobacco use is 18 in all but three states. It's 19 in Alabama, Alaska and Utah. Several states, including California and New York, have recently proposed raising it to 21, but those bills have failed.
Kragh Kelling, 20, said the bill is a bad idea.
"OK, here's my thing: If you're old enough to go to war, you should be old enough to drink and old enough to smoke," he said.
He also doesn't think it could be enforced, and the numbers for the current law back that up.
According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 24.4 percent of all high school students in South Carolina smoke.
And even though it's illegal for stores to sell cigarettes to minors, they bought or smoked 14.3 million packs last year.
It's illegal for stores to sell tobacco to anyone under 18, but it's not illegal for minors to buy or possess it.
Altman's bill would close that loophole, making it illegal for stores to sell it to minors and making it illegal for them to buy or possess it. The bill would also increase penalties.
"If you just fined 'em a dollar, they'd keep on doing it," he said. "And this provides for as high as a $500 fine. And what I particularly like, it would take your driver's license, if you're convicted, for a year. And that's a heavy penalty for some of these people and they won't want to lose their driver's licenses."
Surprisingly, the American Cancer Society won't be a big supporter of his bill.
Nancy Cheney, government relations director for the South Carolina chapter, said, "There just isn't the research that shows increasing the age has any impact on smoking. Research shows the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use are regular increases in the price, smoke-free policies and fully funding efforts to prevent kids from starting and helping current smokers to quit."
Altman said he doesn't see how anyone could be against his bill, but he knows there will be opponents. He is a smoker himself, but says it's a decision that should be made by adults.