The borough of Hillsdale, N.J. could be the next municipality to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, as the borough council has introduced a bill to raise the minimum purchasing age from 18 to 21-years-old and is expected to vote on the idea at its Nov. 10 meeting. According to NorthJersey.com, the council has been working on the proposal since July, when it voted unanimously to introduce legislation that would raise the age from 18 to 19. Revisions to that initial proposal included applying the age increase to electronic smoking devices and then changing the proposed age from 19 to 21. The state legislature has a proposal that would increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21, but it has sat with the Assembly since being introduced in May 2014 while the New Jersey Senate gave its approval in June 2014. In the meantime, a number of cities have attempted to increase the purchasing age on their own, with Rutherford, Englewood, East Rutherford, Teaneck, Bogota, Garfield, Highland Park, Sayreville and Princeton all passing proposals. A number have cities have failed to pass the increase, including Edgewater and North Plainfield. Hillsdale is home to just over 10,000 people and is located just ...
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