Retailers say tobacco age hike will cost them business

Posted on May 6, 2016
smoking
A retailers group says their stores near the Illinois borders will lose business if the state’s legal tobacco age is raised from 18 to 21. (Photo by julie/flickr)

By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – You could soon have to be 21 years old to buy a pack of cigarettes in Illinois.

Lawmakers in Springfield could vote this month on a plan to increase the tobacco age from 18 to 21. The bill is pending in the Senate.

The American Lung Association says a higher age will make it tougher for teens to start smoking.

But the people who sell cigarettes in the state say the new age will make it easier for Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa and Wisconsin to lure their customers away.

Bill Fleischli of the Illinois Association of Convenience Stores said the proposal will “make the borders wider.”

Fleischli said if smokers leave the state to buy a pack of cigarettes, chances are they’ll buy gas, groceries and lottery tickets out the state as well.

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…