Maryland Raises Tobacco Purchasing Age to 21 Today

Maryland is officially part of the Tobacco 21 club, as today the state’s minimum age to purchase tobacco products increased to 21-years-old as part of a piece of legislation was signed into law by Gov. Larry Hogan in May.

The bill, H.B. 1169, won the approval of both chambers of the state legislature in March, though a debate as to whether an exemption should be made for active duty members to the military with valid identification pushed the final approval into April, with the exemption ultimately being included

The new law means that in order to purchase tobacco products or nicotine delivery devices such as electronic cigarettes, a person will need to be at least 21-years-old, unless they are active duty members of the military with identification, in which case they need to be at least 18-years-old.

Maryland joins 17 other states as well as the District of Columbia and Guam in passing Tobacco 21 legislation, though not all of the laws have gone into effect yet. New York will join the club Nov. 13, while Washington’s increase will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020 and Utah’s will increase on July 1, 2020.