--- title: Hawaii Set to Become the First State to Raise Smoking Age to 21 description: Hawaii may become the first state to pass a law banning the sale and possession of cigarettes and e-cigarettes to people under age 21 canonical: https://time.com/3836427/hawaii-smoking-age-to-21/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-27T14:00:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:41:57.089Z article:section: Health og:title: Hawaii Set to Raise Smoking Age to 21 og:description: Will be first state to set higher age limit. og:url: https://time.com/3836427/hawaii-smoking-age-to-21/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3647372cf45731d9/6987788de20a870ec2a845ea/e-cig-electronic-cigarette-smoke-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos E-Cig Electronic Cigarette Smoke og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hawaii Set to Raise Smoking Age to 21 twitter:description: Will be first state to set higher age limit. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3647372cf45731d9/6987788de20a870ec2a845ea/e-cig-electronic-cigarette-smoke-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hawaii Set to Become First State to Raise Smoking Age to 21 > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 27, 2015 2:00 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 27, 2015 2:00 PM UTC Hawaii is set to become the first state to pass a law banning the sale, use and possession of cigarettes and e-cigarettes to people under the age of 21. If a bill approved by Hawaii lawmakers on Friday is signed into law by Governor David Ige, adolescents will be prohibited from smoking, buying and possessing both conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes. First-time offenders will be fined $10, and after that they can be charged a $50 fine or be required to complete community service, [the Associated Press reports](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article%5F2015-04-24-US--Hawaii-Smoking%20Age/id-4e45e02563b343788ecd2b1a0fdc07dd). Some local governments have raised the smoking age to 21 in certain counties and cities — New York City among them — but if the bill becomes law, Hawaii will be the first state to do so. Though the rates of high-school-age smokers have dropped in recent years, some 2.3 million children and young adults started smoking in 2012\. In addition, a [recent report](http://time.com/3825218/ecig-teens/) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that e-cigarette use among middle-school and high school students tripled in one year. If the Hawaii bill passes, it will [go into effect](http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii-could-be-first-state-to-raise-tobacco-buying-age-to-21/32561456?utm%5Fsource=Social&utm%5Fmedium=FBPAGE&utm%5Fcampaign=KITV%20-%20KITV4&Content%20Type=Story&linkId=13769743) Jan. 1, 2016. \[[_AP_](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article%5F2015-04-24-US--Hawaii-Smoking%20Age/id-4e45e02563b343788ecd2b1a0fdc07dd)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3836427/hawaii-smoking-age-to-21/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3836427/hawaii-smoking-age-to-21/"},"headline":"Hawaii Set to Become First State to Raise Smoking Age to 21","datePublished":"2015-04-27T14:00:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:41:57.089Z","description":"The bill covers both cigarette and e-cigarette use","url":"https://time.com/3836427/hawaii-smoking-age-to-21/","keywords":["Addiction","Smoking","Cigarettes","tobacco","E-Cigarettes","hawaii"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3647372cf45731d9/6987788de20a870ec2a845ea/e-cig-electronic-cigarette-smoke-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3647372cf45731d9/6987788de20a870ec2a845ea/e-cig-electronic-cigarette-smoke-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos E-Cig Electronic Cigarette Smoke","caption":"TIME.com stock photos E-Cig Electronic Cigarette Smoke","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/addiction/","name":"Addiction"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3836427/hawaii-smoking-age-to-21/","name":"Hawaii Set to Become First State to Raise Smoking Age to 21"}}]}] ```