Columbia, Mo. Raises Tobacco Purchase Age to 21

Nearly three months after a proposal to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Columbia, Mo. came up in the closing minutes of a city council meeting, the council approved the increase by a vote of 6-1 at its meeting on Monday night.

Three smoking and tobacco-related proposals came before the council, and they all received the same vote. Electronic cigarettes are now subject to the same minimum age restrictions and restrictions about where they can as traditional tobacco products. The Columbia/Boone County Board of Health announced its endorsement of the proposals last month.

After some two hours of debate, the age change passed, with Councilwoman Lauren Nauser the lone dissenter, saying that her “libertarian streak” led her to vote no, warning about taking government regulation too far, according to the Columbia Tribune. “We can make an argument about almost anything we do in government that it’s ‘in our best interest’,” she said.

The three ordinances were sponsored by Councilwoman Ginny Chadwick, who said that with the vote, “we are giving families healthier lives together.”

Columbia is home to approximately 115,000 people and is located almost directly between Kansas City and St. Louis, about 125 miles from both cities.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.