A state representative is hoping legislation he authored in the spring could set the stage for Louisiana to raise the state’s smoking age, The USA Today Network of Louisiana reports.
State Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, authored House Resolution 177 which directs the Louisiana Department of Health to study the impact of raising the state’s smoking age from 18 to 21.
“I actually initially wrote a bill to change the age to 21, but I knew we weren’t ready to do that,” Hoffmann says. “This is going to be a study to see what’s going on around the country—-how it’s working, health outcomes and money being saved.”
Hoffmann smoked three packs a day in the 1980s before kicking the habit. “I used to eat ’em,” he says, “until I got to where I couldn’t breathe.”
Since joining the Legislature, Hoffmann has made it one of his missions to curb smoking through tobacco tax increases and reducing smoking on elementary and high school campuses.
Gov. John Bel Edwards just signed Hoffman’s Act 351—a separate House bill—which extends no smoking policies at all Louisiana public and private schools.
And now Hoffmann hopes his resolution could perhaps set the stage for raising the age at which Louisianans can legally smoke.
He already has the support of Department of Health Secretary Rebekah Gee, who said smokers cost the state about $12 per pack in health care costs.
“Raising the age would have a profound impact on the overall health of the people of our state,” Gee says. “Whatever we can do to prevent smoking will have a powerful impact on lives and the bottom line of health care costs.”
