PAP Minister Amy Khor announced in Parliament today that the Government will raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 years old. This change will be tabled in Parliament within a year and the changes will take effect over the next few years to not affect smokers who are currently between 18 – 20 years of age.
The Government cited that smoking in Singapore among the young were still high and smoking rate of young women was also creeping upwards. Their research show that young brains were more vulnerable to nicotine addiction and it would increase the likelihood of youths continuing to smoke into adulthood.
They intend to stop youths from smoking and cut off any opportunities for them to smoke before they turn 21.