--- title: Raising Age for Buying Cigarettes: Colorado Barely Rejects Proposal description: The state narrowly rejected a proposal to raise the legal age from 18 to 21. The move comes as cities and corporations across the U.S. are making cigarettes less accessible—or are being pressured to do so. canonical: https://time.com/30968/colorado-cigarettes-legal-age-21-rejected/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-19T22:08:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T07:31:12.202Z article:section: Health og:title: Raising Age for Buying Cigarettes: Colorado Barely Rejects Proposal og:description: The state narrowly rejected a proposal to raise the legal age from 18 to 21. The move comes as cities and corporations across the U.S. are making cigarettes less accessible—or are being pressured to do so. og:url: https://time.com/30968/colorado-cigarettes-legal-age-21-rejected/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f30de8824f18b27/698685c73bc999c0fc1a2605/143044152-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Cigarettes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Raising Age for Buying Cigarettes: Colorado Barely Rejects Proposal twitter:description: The state narrowly rejected a proposal to raise the legal age from 18 to 21. The move comes as cities and corporations across the U.S. are making cigarettes less accessible—or are being pressured to do so. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f30de8824f18b27/698685c73bc999c0fc1a2605/143044152-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Colorado Won't Raise Legal Age to Buy Cigarettes > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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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 [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Mar 19, 2014 10:08 PM UTC  Several brands of Philip Morris cigarettes are displayed for a photograph in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, April 17, 2012\. Philip Morris International is scheduled to release 2012 first quarter earnings on Thursday, April 19\. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Several brands of Philip Morris cigarettes are displayed for a photograph in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, April 17, 2012\. Philip Morris International is scheduled to release 2012 first quarter earnings on Thursday, April 19\. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Daniel Acker / Bloomberg / Getty Images by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Mar 19, 2014 10:08 PM UTC On Wednesday, a Colorado House committee [voted 7-6 to kill a proposal](http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci%5F25377056/raising-age-21-purchase-cigarettes-colorado-tough-climb#axzz2wRfaI6yy) that would have raised the minimum age for buying cigarettes to 21 across the Rocky Mountain State. The bipartisan bill, which had already passed one committee hurdle, would have made Colorado the first state to set the minimum at the same age for drinking—and, in that state at least, the legal purchase of marijuana. The current legal age for buying cigarettes in Colorado is 18. There have been similar but less sweeping moves from state and local officials, all intended to curb cigarette use among young people. Four states — Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah — have pushed the minimum to 19\. In November, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg [signed a bill](http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/11/mayor-bloomberg-signs-bill-raising-smoking-age-from-18-to-21) raising the minimum for buying smokes in New York City to 21\. Some counties in New York have [since followed suit](http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/suffolk-lawmakers-raise-age-for-buying-tobacco-to-21-1.7430539), and [a dozen smaller towns](http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/2013/12/nearly%5Fa%5Fdozen%5Fmassachusetts%5Ftowns%5Fraise%5Fage%5Ffor%5Fcigarette%5Fs.html) in Massachusetts had raised the minimum age above 18 by the end of last year, many of them setting the bar at 21. Debates about the issue often pit health advocates against business owners, who argue that such a ban could hurt their bottom lines and curtail the legal rights of citizens. But with major corporations like CVS [pulling cigarettes off their shelves](http://time.com/4464/cvs-to-ditch-all-tobacco-products/), sacrificing $1.5 billion to be more in step with public opinion, the tide seems to be turning against the capitalistic argument for permitting broad sales. After CVS’s announcement in February, nearly 30 state attorneys general [called on five more giant corporations](http://time.com/27076/states-asks-big-retail-to-halt-tobacco-sales/) to also stop selling tobacco in stores that have pharmacies. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/30968/colorado-cigarettes-legal-age-21-rejected/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/30968/colorado-cigarettes-legal-age-21-rejected/"},"headline":"Colorado Won't Raise Legal Age to Buy Cigarettes","datePublished":"2014-03-19T22:08:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T07:31:12.202Z","description":"The state narrowly rejected a proposal to raise the legal age from 18 to 21. 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