Proposed bill would increase minimum purchase age by one year every year

A politician in Tasmania, Australia, plans to introduce to the state’s upper house a private member’s bill that would restrict the sale of tobacco products to people born in or after 2000, according to a story by Andrew Drummond for the Australian Associated Press.

“It will not make it illegal for them to smoke, but it will make it illegal for them to buy the product,” said the Launceston-based independent MP Ivan Dean.

“If we have a bill that’s to say they can never smoke, it would be unlikely to get support.”

Dean is working on the basis that if it’s difficult to source cigarettes, it is less likely people will smoke.

Due to be tabled in parliament on November 18, the bill is still a work in progress though, for obvious reasons, it would not come into effect until 2018.

“So far I’ve only had positive feedback about the bill and even the [state] health minister has indicated he will look at the detail,” Dean said.

And support is coming from the US, where Dick Daynard, professor of law in public health at Boston’s Northeastern University, is throwing his weight behind the proposed legislation.

The full story is at: https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25380262/international-eyes-on-tas-smoking-bill/