Tim Skubick

If you were a teen age resident of this state and paying close attention to what they are doing to you in the legislature, you’d be none too cheerful at this time of the year. Well everybody knows they aren’t paying close attention because there is no instant gratification in watching the progress of these two bills that go right to the heart of teen age conduct in this state.

In this space two weeks ago we learned that sponsors of legislation to imposed a modified ban on cell phone use in schools are well on their way to victory next year.

And now in this space we learn that the anti-tobacco lobby is coming after minors who smoke illegally and synthetic tobacco store owners who are eager to assistance them in breaking the law. In case you didn’t know you have the right to vote at 18 in this state but must wait until you are 21 to light up a Lucky.

Actually a 2023 study by the state health department discovered that only 2% of underage smokers are turning to the cigarettes that they parents smoked by the pack…daily!

Nope. 14% of these kids are much more sophisticated and vaping their lungs out. Another 3% are buying something else and in the battle of the sexes, girls beat the boys at this by a 16% to 7% lead.

The anti-smoking lobby in this state is on a mission to attack this public health problem head on.

Minou Jones from the coalition in Detroit reports that seven out of ten merchants are breaking the law and beefing up their profit margin by willfully selling to minors.

“That’s unacceptable and it’s not just in Detroit. It is a problem across the state.”

There is no anti-smoking squad hired by the state to hunt down these law-breakers and since none of these smoke shops are licensed by the state, they hawk their products with little chance of being nabbed.

Which is why the Michigan Senate, in the dying days of the session now ended, adopted a mandate to order every dealer to get that state license or else risk being put of business, assuming of course, that they get caught.

“If you force them to get a license you have a hook to go after them absolutely,” she asserts.

But there was another bill in the package that the senate blocked.

Under current state law minors are punished if they get caught smoking but the anti-tobacco lobby claims, “penalties for possession are in effective. They don’t work. If they worked we wouldn’t be in the boat we’re in right now,” Ms. Jones concludes.

However, State Sen. Joe Bellino, who has worked behind the counter of a party store were these products were on sale, objects to taking the kids off the hook.

“You mean a 19 year old does not understand the difference between wrong and right?” he rhetorically asks while working with State Sen. Sam Singh to halt this bill before it multiplied.

Ms. Jones, however, does have sponsors over in the Michigan House who are embracing the move to repeal the punishment and license the dealers at the same time and with the new year the debate over that will move on.

But there is another sure fire way to curb minors but it shows no signs of life in either the house or senate. That despite the fact that two years ago Gov. Gretchen Whitmer waded in on boosting the tobacco tax on these new-fangled vaping devices.

The evidence shows that hitting the smoking consumer in the pocketbook slices into the smoking rate and while the governor said she was not “going to lead” on the tax hike she was certainly “open to it.” She urged lawmakers to send something to her desk and they would “negotiate.” Make note her stance did not amount to a yes to raising the taxes. It only wetted the appetite of the smoking lobby to take a shot at it.

Well guess what?

No shot is being taken.

Ms. Jones confesses during an interview that she does not have the votes to push it over the finish line.

“Yeah. There’s just not the appetite for it right now. I hope those things will change. There’s enough blame on both sides of the aisle,” as she fingers the R’s and D’s for sitting this one out even though it would help to reduce tobacco related health issues in the state which in the long run costs the state more to address.

So score one for the smoking minors who won’t have to divert part of their allowance to take a vape hit.

But if things fall into place, they may find it harder to get that hit from their friendly store owner who may think twice before selling to minors if there is a chance their license could be yanked.

Hint to you apathetic non legislative teen watchers. You can actually call your local lawmaker and urge them to vote no.

Don’t know how to do it?

Ask your government teacher for starters.