COLUMBUS – No one is interested in cracking down on 19-year-olds for smoking.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
That’s what three Franklin County cities have said after making it illegal to sell tobacco-related products to anyone younger than 21.
Even Grandview Heights, which also made it illegal for anyone under 21 to possess, use or buy those items and imposed penalties, is not on a witch hunt.
“It’s more of a comment on public health,” Grandview City Councilman Steve Gladman said. He was in the majority of the 6-1 vote to pass the ordinance on Monday.
It was similar to ordinances passed by Upper Arlington and Bexley in June. The main difference was those two cities didn’t include a ban on possession by anyone younger than 21. Without that ban, the law on possession reverts to the state law, which sets the legal age at 18, according to the Ohio attorney general’s office.
That’s fine with Upper Arlington, spokeswoman Emma Speight said. After checking with city officials, she said there was no interest in citing 18-, 19- or 20-year-olds for smoking.
“It wasn’t on our radar,” Bexley City Councilwoman Deneese Owen said. “We’re more focused on prevention than cracking down on folks.”
Grandview, since it did include a possession violation and penalties, could haul those young adults into mayor’s court, but won’t, City Councilman Chris Smith said.