The Evanston City Council was expected to vote Monday on an ordinance that would not only raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21, but would also make possession of those products a crime in the northeastern Illinois city, but it turned out that criminalizing possession proved too much for some of the aldermen. During the meeting, Alderman Donald Wilson said he felt uncomfortable heaping a fine on a young person who may already be addicted to tobacco products, as well as criminalizing something that is “legal across the board” as far as possession, according to a report by the Evanston Review. The amendment that would drop possession of tobacco products from by a person under 21-years-old from becoming a crime was passed 7-2. However another alderman, Delores Holmes, thought that the ordinance wasn’t going far enough and suggested a widespread ban of tobacco sales in the city, alluding to the move that CVS made recently. Her suggestion was met with a chilly response. The revised ordinance is now scheduled for a vote on Oct. 27.
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