Military ready to observe state’s law to raise age for smoking

The U.S. military, with a lot of smokers, is toeing the line on Hawaii’s new ban on cigarettes and tobacco for anyone under 21, which takes effect Friday.

Lt. Gen. Mark Brilakis, Marine Corps deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, said in a notice Monday, “U.S. Marine Corps installations located in the state of Hawaii are subject to concurrent jurisdiction,” adding, “This means Hawaii’s criminal code applies aboard all federal installations.”

Hawaii police have authority to enforce state law on Marine Corps installations, Brilakis said. The extent of that enforcement is limited, however.

The state’s under-21 ban includes electronic smoking devices and smokeless tobacco. Specifically excluded from Hawaii’s criminal code and concurrent jurisdiction are ships’ stores on Navy vessels, Brilakis said.

U.S. Marines “are expected to respect and comply with Hawaii’s new tobacco laws,” said Brilakis, who directed that all shore-based retail tobacco sales on Marine Corps installations in the state cease to those under age 21.

Local commanders are to enforce compliance with additional guidance on “administrative and military justice aspects related to noncompliance” forthcoming, Brilakis said.

Hawaii is the first state to ban smoking for anyone under age 21. Today is the last day that the legal age to smoke is 18.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense, as a matter of policy to comply with the new state law, directed all defense commissaries and exchanges subject to concurrent jurisdiction in Hawaii not to sell or furnish tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices, to persons under the age of 21, said Stefanie Gutierrez, with U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii.

The Army enacted a policy that complies with Hawaii’s smoking law, including the provision that anyone under 21 may not possess and/or consume tobacco products in public, Gutierrez said.

According to a 2011 Defense Department study, 24.6 percent of active-duty service members were smokers, compared with 21.2 percent among the civilian population. Some 19.5 percent of military members had used smokeless tobacco the preceding year.

Among service members in the 18 to 20 age bracket, 26.3 percent were smokers. By service, the Marines were the heaviest smokers, at 30.7 percent, followed by the Army, at 26.8 percent, the Navy at 24.3 percent, and Air Force at 16.7 percent.

Rear Adm. John Fuller, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said in a commentary in mid-November that with the new law, “the state of Hawaii is helping us make it easier to quit tobacco — or better yet, prevent our youngest shipmates from ever getting hooked.”

“Quitting tobacco is one of the best things we can do to improve fitness and readiness,” Fuller said. “I’ve heard this argument by some shipmates against cracking down on tobacco: ‘If someone is young enough to die for their country, they should be free to be allowed to smoke.’”

But Fuller turned that around, saying, “If someone is young enough to fight for their country, they should be free from addiction to a deadly drug.”

Fuller cited a memo last year by Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, in which Woodson said tobacco use undercuts military readiness, harms individual performance and costs the Defense Department $1.6 billion a year in medical costs and lost work time.

The Air Force’s 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam said because the Department of the Navy made a policy decision to comply with Hawaii’s new tobacco law, and Hickam falls under the joint base, Air Force shops will also be prohibited from selling tobacco to those under 21.

The Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, said its policy also is that starting Friday no one under 21 can have tobacco products on base. The exchange won’t sell tobacco to under-21 individuals, either.

“So the Coast Guard will be in compliance with state law,” said Coast Guard District 14 spokesman Lt. Scott Carr.