Aspen Considers Raising Age To Buy Tobacco, E-Cigs

Aspen's city council is considering a proposal that would require someone be at least 21-years-old before they could buy tobacco products or electronic nicotine devices. The current age is 18.

The council will hear a proposal from Dr. Kimberly Levin - the Pitkin County Medical Officer - in a work session Monday.

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"Teen years are an age of experimentation and risk-taking, and susceptibility to peer pressures," she said in a letter to the council. "E-cigarettes have not only been gaining popularity by being cleverly marketed toward teens with over 7,000 flavors, they have also been shown to be a transition into cigarette smoking and other recreational drug use."

A coalition of groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association says that at least 135 localities in nine states have already raised the age to 21.

At the work session Monday, the council will hear from Levin. If they want to move forward, council staff will then bring back a proposed bill for official consideration at a later date.

Levin says that if they move forward, it will be about more than just raising the age.

"Education will play a key role as the evidence of the harms of nicotine and cigarettes is now undisputable," she wrote.

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