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A new Bill that will be seen this Legislative Session, looks to raise the age to purchase or posess tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21. The legislative session just started and already house bill 38 is seeing a lot of debate.
“A lot of the feedback we’ve been getting from customers was if you could vote and fight for your country they feel that you should be able to vape and continue with cigarettes as well.” said Ashley Miller, Swamp Vapor Employee.
“I think the younger you are the more influential you are to your peers and as you begin to age, you make wiser choices” said Nurse Practitioner at Cardiovascular Institute of the South, Kyle Lavergne, “As we look at the long term outcomes, we know smoking has detrimental long term outcomes.”
The bill comes from West Monroe representative, Frank Hoffman who says so far 6 states and over 400 cities have raised the tobacco age to 21 with a goal of a healthier state.
“Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances aside of heroin and cocaine.” said Lavergne, “Nicotine increases blood pressure and heart rate, levels of adrenaline and increasing your risk for heart attack.”
Lavergne said with vaping, there’s a lot of unknown.
“It’s not regulated nearly as much as the cigarettes so we are not sure what’s in them or the ultimate long term outcomes of vaping.” said Lavergne.
But with any bill, there are pros and cons.
“My personal opinion, like I’ve said there are so many people trying to quit and it’s backtracking them.” said Miller.
“I think it would be so much better.” explained Lavergne, “It would help with our health status of our entire state overall. Not only making people healthier but also probably saving millions to billions of dollars in healthcare in the long term.”
Check out Tayor Trache’s VIDEO
