title: votes being switched in multiple states to clinton
text: california becomes second state to raise legal smoking age to  
    ethan a huff staff writer tags smoking age  california  prohibition naturalnews if youre between the ages of  and  live in california and are a smoker expect to be denied your favorite pack at the convenience store beginning in june the new minimum age for officially jumped from  to  a prohibition move that lawmakers claim will curb the number of smokers in the golden state and ultimately help save livesjoining both hawaii and the city of needham in massachusetts california is the third locale in the us to raise the legal smoking age to  officials there hope that like in these other places age restrictions on smoking will help reduce the number of smokers and minimize the number of individuals who develop smokingrelated health conditions like emphysema and lung cancerciting statistics from needham that show a nearly  percent reduction in the number of smokers in the fiveyear period following the change that was made in  april roeseler head of the california public health departments tobacco control program told the los angeles times that she expects similar reductions in her statein needham the number of high schoolers smoking cigarettes fell by nearly half according to a study published last year and adult smoking rates in the town also fell from about  percent to a mere  percent  statistics that experts say can be replicated all across the countryif we can push that age up where fewer and fewer people start smoking as a teen its likely that we will start to have some tobaccofree generations  the times quotes her as saying prohibition never works people who want contraband will find a way at this point though very little if any evidence exists to show that the rule change is working as intended university of california san francisco ucsf professor dr stanton glantz for instance admitted to the times that the policy still needs time to settle in the california smokers helpline also says it hasnt noticed any increases in the number of callers in the prohibited age range trying to quit which suggests that not much has changedtheres also the contraband factor  older kids still buying cigarettes for younger kids for example including those younger than the former threshold age of  illegal buying has always been an issue law or no law which is something that the government never really seems to understand when it comes to issues of prohibition theyre hanging out and partying together so theyll just get someone else to buy says leonard charles the owner of a liquor store in oakland charles says he strictly enforces the new cigarette age law but believes that if somebody wants cigarettes he or she is going to find a way regardless of the lawin the internet age cigarettes are also freely available to anybody with a wifi connection people can order cigarettes off the web and have them delivered right to their doorstep which means that statelevel restrictions are basically mootand what about ecigarettes the state of california classifies ecigs as a tobacco product just like cigarettes and they are subject to the same laws however everybody has them these days theyre very discreet and they dont produce that typical tobacco smell thats so hard to get out of a room  so trying to enforce restrictions against their use is next to impossible say experts familiar with the reality of how easy it is to obtain tobacco regardless of what the law sayswhen asked how the new law will realistically work in light of the fact that smoking laws often arent effective glantz responded the short answer is i dont know sources for this article include