The legal age for buying nicotine-infused merchandise — including cigarettes and “vaping” products — would jump from 18 to 21 under a bill that has cleared its first hurdle in the Iowa Senate. Senate President Charles Schneider of West Des Moines is the Republican who’s sponsoring the bill.
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The owners of the shops that sell E-cigarettes and vaping products oppose raising the nicotine purchasing age to 21.
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That’s Sarah Linden, the C-E-O of Generation V, with shops in Council Bluffs, Davenport and five others in Nebraska. Health advocacy groups ALSO oppose the bill. They want lawmakers to make the penalties for selling nicotine-infused products to minors tougher. They want an increase in the state’s tobacco tax AND they want the state to spend more on programs that help smokers quit.