The popularity of cigarettes may be going up in smoke—as high school students and college students are smoking other things—but that hasn't stopped Hawaii from changing its smoking laws. Joining other places in the U.S. Hawaii has become the first state to change the legal smoking age for both cigarettes and e-cigarettes to 21.
The state's new law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. The AP reports e-cigarettes were also added to the law after officials saw an increased use among students. First believed to be less harmful than cigarettes e-cigarettes have been recently linked to causing lung disease. According to the AP the number of middle school students who said they've used e-cigarettes increased six times over to 12 percent in 2015, whereas high school students' usage quadrupled during the same period to 22 percent in 2015.
An administrator with the chronic disease prevention and health promotion division of the Hawaii Department of Health said, "In Hawaii, about one in four students in high school try their first cigarette each year, and one in three who get hooked will die prematurely."
Vendors that are found in violation of the new law by selling cigarettes to underage people face a $500 fine the first time and upwards of a $2,000 fine after that. People caught underage smoking will be fined $10 the first time caught and $50 or community service after.
Officials have said violators will only receive warnings in the first three months when the law is in place as they educate people about it.
