California lawmakers near vote on raising smoking age to 21

(AP) — California's Senate is poised to vote on a sweeping package of anti-smoking measures_including raising the smoking age to 21— as lawmakers try to crack down on tobacco use and the health problems that flow from it.

If the Senate approves Thursday and Gov. Jerry Brown signs off, California would become the second state to move the age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21, and electronic cigarettes would face the same restrictions as tobacco products.

Thursday's vote comes amid intense lobbying from tobacco interests and fierce opposition from many Republicans, who say the state should butt out of people's personal decisions, even if they're harmful to health.

Making it illegal for 18-year-old high school students to buy tobacco for their underage friends will make it more difficult for teens to get ahold of tobacco products, they say.

[...] anti-smoking groups are collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would raise the cigarette tax to $2 a pack and direct the money to be used for purposes including health care, tobacco-use prevention, research and law enforcement.