Editorial: Governor should sign bill increasing minimum age to buy tobacco

Last August, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner derailed a drive against youth smoking by vetoing legislation that would increase to 21 the age at which people can buy tobacco products.

In January, a reconstituted General Assembly took up the legislation again, and last Thursday, the state Senate put the issue into the hands of a new governor with passage by a vote of 39-16. The House approved the measure earlier in the week 82-31.

Rauner objected to the previous bill because he thought it placed too much responsibility on retailers. Other opponents of the so-called Tobacco 21 legislation contend that if the state thinks people are mature enough at age 18 to vote, marry and serve in the military, it ought to also let them decide for themselves whether to smoke.

We're not swayed by Rauner's concerns. Businesses do, after all, already have to enforce the restriction against 18-year-olds buying tobacco, and the state law actually eases some business pressures by making consistent statewide a standard that now varies from place to place in a patchwork of village and city boundaries. That consistency, by the way, also makes it harder for young people to skirt their local laws by simply driving - or in some cases walking across the street - to a nearby town without the higher age restriction.

As for concerns about maturity, there's no denying we begin giving young people increased autonomy as early as 16 when they can start driving. But there's also no denying the well-established addictive qualities of tobacco, nor the strong research showing that smokers overwhelmingly get started in their teens and are far less likely to take up the dangerous habit after they reach 21. If the mature decision in terms of assuring one's long-term health is to reject smoking, we ought not make it more difficult by leaving young people more open to getting addicted first.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has not indicated his position on the bill beyond his staff's statement that he "looks forward to reviewing" it. But his spokeswoman did tell The Associated Press earlier this year that he "believes in order to help build a healthy society, we have to work to prevent young people from smoking."

He has the opportunity to advance that cause now. We applaud lawmakers who presented it to him - including Deerfield Democrat Julie Morrison, who was chief sponsor of the Senate version of the bill - and encourage him now to do his part.