Oregon Lawmakers Preparing to Raise the Legal Smoking Age to 21

You may no longer be able to smoke cigarettes before you can drink.

The Oregon State Senate passed a bill on Wednesday to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21, up from 18.

The law would also raise the legal age for purchasing any smoking device, such as pipes, bongs and rolling papers.

The approval comes just one day after Oregon State Senate voted to limit sales of medicinal products containing DXM (mainly cough syrups), in an effort to curb teen abuse of the drug.

Both bills were sponsored by state Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D- NW Portland and Beaverton.)

"This bill will decrease youth smoking rates, decrease tobacco-related diseases and health care costs, and will improve public health. This is good policy for Oregonians," Hayward said in a statement.

According to a statement by the Tobacco 21 For Oregon coalition, 95 percent of adult smokers begin smoking before age 21. According to the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey of 2015, 24 percent of 11th graders in the state had used tobacco products in the last month.

Currently, California and Hawaii are the only states to have raised tobacco sales to age 21, but many cities and counties have, including Oregon's Lane County.

The bill will next go to the House of Representatives for consideration.