JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. — You must now be 21 years of age or older to legally purchase tobacco and vaping products in Alabama after Governor Kay Ivey signed House Bill 273 into law.
Anyone who walks into Gallery Smoke in Hoover sees the sign on the door as a reminder the employees will card customers.
“It hasn’t looked like its had a negative impact on us, we still have just as many customers and still selling just about as many vape products to everyone coming in,” said Edward Nixon with Gallery Smoke.
Some people have turned to vaping to quit smoking tobacco.
Local vape shops and health experts weigh in on new 21 age requirement to buy tobacco (abc3340.com)
“I guess like only putting it in the hands of people who are like 21 and up is probably going to help keeping kids in high school or people that are much younger from getting their hands on them,” said Nixon.
Pulmonologist Gizelle Stevens warned that vaping is not a more “natural” way of smoking.
“These substances, these things have a lot of preservatives in them, oils, lots of unknown chemicals in them in general that gets deposited through our lungs and it sets up a whole cascade of problems,” said Stevens.
Stevens said vaping products can cause E-VALI, a newly identified lung disease linked to vaping.
“It makes you not being able to breathe, you have coughing, its just that stippling feeling that really damages your lungs,” said Stevens.
The new law is an attempt to deter those 20 years of age and younger from being able to purchase the products.
