Kevin Ryan

The House made an important step in potentially reducing the number of people addicted to nicotine by passing HB 7200. The bill will prevent sales of all forms of Nicotine to those under 21, an age group where the brain is still developing and young people are vulnerable to the addictive effects of nicotine.

The bill hopes to decrease teen nicotine addiction by eliminating the likelihood that teens and young adults ever pick up a tobacco product to begin with. According to the state Department of Public Health (DPH), 95 percent of adults who smoke started before they turned 21, and research has shown that if an individual has not started smoking by age 21, they likely never will.

Nationwide, and in Connecticut, e-cigarette use or “vaping” among middle and high school students is on the rise. A DPH 2017 Youth Tobacco Survey found that e-cigarette use among Connecticut high school students has more than doubled from 7.2 percent using in 2015 to 14.7 percent using in 2017, with more than half of students surveyed believing e-cigarettes to be less harmful than a cigarette.

The bill was approved in a bipartisan vote of 124-22 and awaits action by the Senate.