Hawaii just raised its legal smoking age to 21

cigarettes
(Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) signed a bill Friday raising the state's legal smoking age to 21, The Associated Press reports. The law applies to buying, smoking, and possessing traditional and electronic cigarettes. Hawaii is the first state to enact a law of this kind, although some local governments already enforce similar bans.

The Hawaii governor's office said 86 percent of adults in the state began smoking before age 21.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.