Rexburg repeals ordinance banning 18- to 21-year-olds from buying tobacco
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REXBURG — An ordinance preventing anyone under 21 from purchasing tobacco products within Rexburg limits was unanimously repealed Wednesday evening.
During a city council meeting council members conceded it was unfeasible to maintain an ordinance that had no state or even county laws to back it up. While voting to repeal the Tobacco21 ordinance the council also voted to allow mayor Jerry Merrill to draft a resolution requesting the state seriously consider raising the age to buy tobacco products to 21 during the next legislative session.
“I probably wouldn’t have voted for it had not the youth of the age that’s involved brought it to us — I wanted to support them and their decision,” Councilman Brad Wolfe said during the meeting. “But given the fact that the state is where they are and the county is not going to go along with it, I think it causes more of an issue and a problem than it solves.”
Wolfe said he doesn’t believe it is the city council’s job to tell adults what they can or cannot do.
RELATED: 18 to 20-year-olds can no longer purchase tobacco in Rexburg after July 15
Councilwoman Tisha Flora said she is strongly in favor of raising the age to 21 but ultimately decided to vote to repeal the ordinance.
“It’s interesting to me that those who protest Tobacco21 use freedom of choice as a reason to not seriously consider the efforts of the American Cancer Society,” Flora said. “Haven’t we always restricted freedom or choices to our young people?”
Flora questioned whether smoking and drinking is a right or a benefit to society. Citing the American Cancer Society she said smoking causes over 500,000 premature deaths annually. Still citing the American Cancer Society she suggested that hundreds, if not thousands, of those lives would not have been lost if 18-year-olds could not purchase tobacco.
The Tobacco21 ordinance was passed by a unanimous vote in early February, but the city council chose to not let it go into effect until July in anticipation of the state passing a similar statewide bill. However, the statewide proposal to raise the age people can buy tobacco products died in committee in mid-February.
A new ordinance will be written to officially repeal the Tobacco21 ordinance. That new ordinance will be voted on at a later date.