Teens press NC lawmakers to raise the age for tobacco, vape products to 21 ...Middle East

Among middle school and high school students who currently use e-cigarettes, 1 in 4 use the devices daily according to the CDC. (Photo: iStock)

Thursday, June 5th would be Solomon Wynn’s 17th birthday. But instead of planning Solly’s birthday party, his stepmother Charlene Zorn was back at the legislature this week pleading with lawmakers to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco and vaping products in North Carolina from 18 to 21.

Solly was just 15-year-old when he died from vaping in 2021. Zorn said her stepson went from being a healthy, athletic teen who was training for high school football, to one who suffered kidney failure and eventually had to be placed on a ventilator.

“When we lost Solomon, I vowed to make a difference in the lives of teenagers so no family would have to go through what my family’s experienced,” Zorn told reporters at a Tuesday press conference. “Over these last two years, I have realized that in addition to speaking with youth, the best way to honor Solomon’s memory is to advocate for change in North Carolina and to make this about every child in our state, not just Solomon.”

House Bill 430 and Senate Bill 318 — the “Protect Youth From Harms of Vaping & Nicotine Act” — would raise the legal age of sale for tobacco and vape products to 21 and require sellers to have a tobacco retail sales permit.

While the two bills have bipartisan sponsors, neither has moved since they were introduced in March. Sine both missed the legislature’s self-imposed “crossover deadline,” it will be a heavy lift to resurrect the legislation at this point in the session.

But Zorn came prepared Tuesday.

Joined by the bills’ sponsors, more than a dozen teenagers from Alamance, Duplin and Wake counties came ready to walk the halls of the North Carolina General Assembly and urge their representatives to protect youth from the addictive and dangerous health effects of vaping and nicotine use.

Macey Morris, a senior at Eastern Alamance High School, said lawmakers need to understand how many young people are becoming addicted because of the lack of state regulation.

“Vaping has completely changed our schools today. It’s not only in the bathrooms, but also in classrooms where you find distracted kids who are hiding vapes in their clothing and their backpacks,” said Morris. “It affects learning, it affects focus, and it deteriorates health.”

Morris said the practice may seem harmless at first, but she’s watched student athletes lose stamina and struggle to compete in their chosen sports because their lungs were damaged by a product many were told was safer than cigarettes.

Advocates say permitting or licensing the sale of vape and tobacco products would allow the state to know where tobacco products are being sold and improve merchant education efforts, while also allowing the state to inspect for responsible retail practices.

Some members of the National Federation of Independent Business owners raised concerns about a permit fee in the proposed legislation, but Rep. Donnie Loftis said that should not keep the bills bottled up in the Rules Committee.

“There was some concerns that $400 may be so detrimental to a business. I’m thinking if $400 is the difference between you staying open or closed, a child’s life is well worth more than $400 for your business,” said the Gaston County Republican.

Loftis said the bill would also set the age for legal purchase for vaping and nicotine products at 21, the same age for alcohol sales.

North Carolina is currently one of just seven states that have not raised the federal minimum legal sales age of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21.

Senator Gale Adcock (D-Wake) said after three decades as a family nurse practitioner, she’s convinced her bill will provide teenagers with the structural supports needed to prevent nicotine abuse.

“To help them make better short-term choices until their own decision-making capacity can catch-up with their physical growth,” reasoned Adcock. “That is what this bill does. It gives our youth a fighting chance.”

Ninety-five percent of vaping and tobacco use begins before age 21, according to advocates. North Carolina currently ranks 6th in the nation for youth vaping.

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