Richfield Moves Closer To Becoming A 'T21' City

RICHFIELD, MN — On Tuesday night, the Richfield City Council voted unanimously in favor of moving forward a proposed ordinance aimed at increasing the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco products, and tobacco related devices, from 18 to 21 years of age.

If passed at its next meeting, Richfield would become the ninth municipality in Minnesota to pass a "T21" ordinance.

“Smoking is still the number one cause of preventable death in this country,” said Councilmember Maria Regan Gonzalez in a statement. “The proposed ordinance is about preventing initiation among youth by putting purchasers outside the social circle of most high school students.”

Throughout the process, the city’s advisory board of health wanted to make sure any T21 law would be tailored to the needs of Richfield residents. One of the unique aspects to the proposed T21 ordinance deals with enforcement.

“The proposed ordinance eliminates purchase, use and possession penalties. Research has shown that these types of penalties do not detour tobacco use in young people,” explained Richfield Support Services Supervisor Jennifer Anderson.

“The enforcement aspect of the proposed ordinance is directed toward retailers under the guise of compliance checks to make sure they are adequately checking IDs.”

The advisory board, along with several other community partners, has been exploring the possibility of becoming a T21 city for more than a year. Several neighboring cities, including Bloomington, Edina and St. Louis Park have passed similar ordinances increasing the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21.

Nationally, more than 300 municipalities and five states have passed laws increasing the age necessary to purchase tobacco products.

“Passing the T21 ordinance protect the youth of Richfield from a lifelong addiction to tobacco. Any step toward prevention is a step in the right direction,” said Anderson. The Richfield City Council is scheduled to vote on the final approval of the proposed T21 ordinance at their June 12 meeting.

Image via Shutterstock / Ivan Masiuk