# Was the legal smoking age in Montana ever as low as 16? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806 "2006-03-02T20:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/1 "2006-03-02T20:18:30Z")
This is surprisingly difficult for me to research. Apparently, the smoking age is, or was, 16 in some parts of the Commonwealth, so that’s dominating a lot of my searches. I have been speaking with someone from Montana who smoked from age eight until her thirties, and she said she seems to recall that the smoking age in the early 1960s, when she was eight, may have been 16. Or not. Perhaps. See where this is going? Marginal memory coupled with marginal research skills have failed, so I turn to the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/2 "2006-03-02T20:20:18Z")
I’m from NY/NJ but I also remember it being 16. I think that was pretty standard for the time. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/3 "2006-03-02T20:25:00Z")
I am only 32 and minimum smoking ages seem to be a pretty recent phenomena even in terms of my lifetime. I don’t smoke anymore but I did when I was a teenager in Louisiana in the 1980’s/early 1990’s. There wasn’t ANY smoking age when I started at 15 and that was common at least for the region. We could buy cigarettes and smoke our lungs black as soon as we got the money. The debates to enforce an 18 year smoking age were recent and heated and I remember student smoking sections in high schools all over the country. I was a cashier in high school and I freely sold cigarettes to anyone including young kids (who said they were buying them for their parents usually). I would be suprised if there was a smoking age at all back then. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/4 "2006-03-02T20:25:02Z")
[Here is a link (small PDF)](http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/dlj47p1143table1.pdf) listing smoking ages in 1990 and 1992 for the states. It says there were no limits in Montata (but maybe that was some error of omission). ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/5 "2006-03-02T20:36:10Z")
Dunno about the US, but in Canada there was no minimum smoking age 'til (IIRC) 1989, when legislation to regulate the sale of cigarettes to minors was passed. At that time the minimum age was 18. (I recall this quite clearly because at the time the law passed I was still a couple of months away from my 18th birthday and kept worrying I’d get carded whenever I went to buy a pack) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/6 "2006-03-02T20:46:37Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > [Here is a link (small PDF)](http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/dlj47p1143table1.pdf) listing smoking ages in 1990 and 1992 for the states. It says there were no limits in Montata (but maybe that was some error of omission). That’s certainly possible. Montana’s current statute was not enacted until 1993. [http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/mca/16/11/16-11-305.htm](http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/mca/16/11/16-11-305.htm) > [@](#): > > 16-11-305. Sale or distribution of tobacco products to persons under 18 years of age prohibited. (1) A person may not sell or distribute a tobacco product to an individual under 18 years of age, whether over the counter, by vending machine, or otherwise. > (2) If there is a reasonable doubt as to the individual’s age, the seller shall require presentation of a driver’s license or other generally accepted identification that includes a picture of the individual. > > ``` > History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 569, L. 1993. > > ``` OTOH, there’s this: > [@](#): > > All 50 states bad laws banning sales to minors by 1950. Since then, Georgia,. Louisiana, and Wisconsin have repealed theirs le o 47 states plus the District of Columbia, WIL Vs prohibiting sales to minors. [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIBRARY/studies/nc/nc2b.htm](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIBRARY/studies/nc/nc2b.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/7 "2006-03-02T21:36:39Z")
When everyone is referring to minimum smoking ages, are you referring to the minimum age at which you can legally purchase cigarettes, or the minimum age that you can be in possession of cigarettes? ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/8 "2006-03-02T21:42:37Z")
> [@blace81](#): > > When everyone is referring to minimum smoking ages, are you referring to the minimum age at which you can legally purchase cigarettes, or the minimum age that you can be in possession of cigarettes? Are there laws against posession of cigarettes by minors? In Canada it is not unlawful to have them – it’s not even unlawful to buy them, it is only unlawful to sell them to minors. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/9 "2006-03-02T21:44:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Knowingly possessing or consuming tobacco products by minors is prohibited. [http://www.rjrt.com/legal/stateLawView.asp?State=MT](http://www.rjrt.com/legal/stateLawView.asp?State=MT) ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/10 "2006-03-02T21:53:52Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > [R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company](http://www.rjrt.com/legal/stateLawView.asp?State=MT) Wow – so a minor could be charged with (misdemeanor?) posession of tobacco if caught on the street? Is it similar to the laws governing alcohol or considered a controlled substance? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/11 "2006-03-02T22:03:23Z")
> [@Mindfield](#): > > Wow – so a minor could be charged with (misdemeanor?) posession of tobacco if caught on the street? Is it similar to the laws governing alcohol or considered a controlled substance? > [@](#): > > Violators will be subject to a fine of $50 for the first offense and $75-100 for the second offense. Third and subsequent offenses are punishable by a fine of $100-250 or adjudication as a youth in need of supervision under the Montana Youth Court Act. If convicted, violators may be subject to community service or attendance at a tobacco cessation program. Knowingly attempting to purchase tobacco products by minors is prohibited. Violators will be subject to a fine of $50 for a first offense and may be ordered to perform community service. Second or subsequent offenses are punishable by a fine of up to $100 and possible community service. Closer to alcohol, I think. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/12 "2006-03-02T22:34:08Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > [R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company](http://www.rjrt.com/legal/stateLawView.asp?State=MT) I always wondered about that. Day-um. If we enforced those laws, we can pay off the national debt! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/13 "2006-03-02T22:35:54Z")
Thanks **Gfactor**. Apparently there is no legal ramifications for a minor in possession of cigarettes in the state of [New Jersey](http://www.rjrt.com/legal/stateLawView.asp?State=nj) . I always wondered what the rationale behind this type of legislation was. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/14 "2006-03-02T22:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > MMWR report stated that 42 states currently have a law in place prohibiting minors from purchasing, possessing, or using tobacco products, a 24% increase in the three years since the previous report. Such ordinances have drawn both praise and criticism from various interested parties. [http://apha.confex.com/apha/129am/techprogram/paper\_22506.htm](http://apha.confex.com/apha/129am/techprogram/paper_22506.htm) On New Jersey law: This is interestin too: [http://www.njgasp.org/f6\_kids.htm](http://www.njgasp.org/f6_kids.htm) And this has a bunch of links with even more information about New Jersey’s law and policies: [http://www.njgasp.org/d4b\_sale.htm](http://www.njgasp.org/d4b_sale.htm) One more, just for fun: [http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statehi/htmltext/nj\_sh.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statehi/htmltext/nj_sh.htm) ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/15 "2006-03-02T22:54:50Z")
I don’t recall any minimum age in 1950’s Ohio. The big caution then, was that smoking would affect your performance at sports and the coaches would drop you if you were caught, beyond that there wasn’t much public disapproval. My Dad smoked, my Mother did not, but both tried to stop me. About 1955 my Dad offered me $100.00 to buy a car I wanted, a 36 Ford 2dr., if I would agree to quit. Of course I jumped at it, but within a couple weeks I was back to smoking. I still feel guilty for not keeping my word to him. That was about a week’s pay for him at the time. You must remember that cigarette machines were ubiquitous until pressure built to remove them. I don’t think that was effective until the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/16 "2006-03-03T01:24:44Z")
In California the minimum age to buy tobacco products is 18, and AFAIK has been for a very long time. At least it was when I was in college, but I never once got asked to show my ID. At my high school, in about 1974, a Senior Smoking Area was established for those seniors who wanted to indulge during the lunch hour. That’s a remarkable difference from today when nobody is allowed to smoke, neither students nor teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-legal-smoking-age-in-montana-ever-as-low-as-16/346806/17 "2006-03-03T22:16:48Z")
Well, this has been an interesting thread so far. I’ve never given much thought or attention to laws affecting drug users, so all of this is very new to me. Thanks for the responses so far.