In the last Senate, 12 Democrats sponsored legislation to raise the age for purchasing tobacco products, a legal category that includes e-cigarettes, to 21. Now two Republicans have joined the cause: Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Kent.) and Todd Young (Ind.). McConnell says the bill “will include an exemption for men and women who serve in uniform.”
I’m glad the exemption will be there, but it highlights the absurdity of the legislative idea. What McConnell is saying is that nineteen-year-olds are not competent to decide whether to smoke or vape, unless they have also decided to join the Armed Forces. That can’t be right.
Perhaps restrictions on young adults’ drinking alcohol can be justified on the ground of reducing drunk-driving fatalities and injuries to third parties. Restrictions on young adults’ use of tobacco cannot be justified in any similar way.