A new California bill proposed that anyone under the age of 16 would not be able to buy tobacco products, ever.

Under Assembly Bill 935, current smokers can continue buying tobacco but anyone born after 2006 will never be able to buy it in an attempt to phase out the use of tobacco in the state of California for the next generations.

“This bill would implement a phased tobacco ban by prohibiting a tobacco retailer, as defined, from selling tobacco products, as defined, to any person born on or after January 1, 2007,” the bill states.

Therefore, consumers of tobacco products would not be punished, but it is those selling the products that will face financial penalties and license suspension.

Notably, the ban would not apply to the sale of cannabis as youth can become addicted to nicotine but not cannabis, according to lawmakers.

According to studies, the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States is cigarette smoking. Each year, over 480,000 Americans die from smoking cigarettes.

- Tobacco smokers in Jordan -

In Jordan, the percentage of male and female smokers between the ages of 13 to 15 years old was found to be 11.4 percent, in a study conducted in 2014.

The total percentage of smokers in Jordan, over the age of 18, are 66.1 percent of men in the country and 17.4 percent women, according to a study conducted in 2019.

Jordan’s Ministries of Health and Education, in coordination with the World Health Organization, are expected to publish a study later this year, according to sources.