Tuscon, Ariz. moved one step closer to increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21.

After a slight delay, the Tucson City Council voted 3-2 in favor of increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco in the Arizona city. The proposed legislation will still need to pass a second vote, scheduled for Oct. 22, and then be signed by the mayor. If that happens, the law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

Tuscon’s vote came after Pima County—which is where the city is located—rejected a measure to increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco county-wide.

The city of Tucson has over 500,000 residents and is home to the University of Arizona.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.