Legal smoking age
The smoking age is the minimum legal age required to purchase or use tobacco or cannabis products. Most countries have laws that forbid sale of tobacco products to persons younger than certain ages, usually the age of majority or the drinking age.
This article does not discuss laws that regulate electronic cigarettes.
Tobacco-free generation policies
Tobacco-free generation policies and regulations prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to individuals born on or after a particular date.:- In Australia a tobacco-free generation was proposed by Ivan Dean in 2014, without successs. It that would have prohibited the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2000.
- In New Zealand, a law was passed in 2022 and then repealed in 2024. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022 would have prohibited the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
- A law was proposed in the United Kingdom in 2023. In 2024, the government changed and re-introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, still progressing through parliament. It would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to persons born on or after 1 January 2009.
- A law passed in the Maldives in 2025, as a second amendment to the [Tobacco Control Act of the Smoking in the Maldives|Maldives 2010|2010 Tobacco Control Act]. It prohibits the sale, purchase and use of tobacco products by persons born on or after 1 January 2007. Enforced since 2025, it is the world’s first generational tobacco ban.
Cannabis age
Since 2012, various jurisdictions throughout the world have legalized cannabis for recreational use. In Mexico, Uruguay and cannabis-legal jurisdictions [Legality of Cannabis (drug)|cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction|in the United States], the legal age to possess or purchase cannabis is identical to the tobacco purchase age. In Canada, the legal age to possess or purchase cannabis is 19 in all provinces and territories except Alberta and Quebec. There are therefore three Canadian provinces and two territories where the age to purchase tobacco is lower than the age to possess and purchase cannabis, and one province where the tobacco purchase age is higher. Prior to December 2019, when the United States raised its tobacco purchase age to 21 in all states and territories, several U.S. states had tobacco purchase ages lower than their cannabis possession and purchase ages. In Germany, the legal age to possess and purchase cannabis is 18.Enforcement
To reduce illegal sales, active enforcement is more effective than giving retailers information. The retailer compliance with legislation can be assessed by test purchasing. Under Article 16 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, most reporting Parties indicate that they ban sales of tobacco products to minors, and many have raised the minimum legal age of purchase. In the 2024 reporting cycle, several Parties reported increasing the minimum age, including the Cook Islands, Ethiopia, Ireland and the Maldives, which raised it to 21 years, and others reported expanding bans on sales to minors to cover additional tobacco and nicotine products and strengthening enforcement mechanisms and penalties.A 2024 systematic review in Nicotine & Tobacco Research examining jurisdictions that raised the minimum legal sales age for tobacco to 20 or 21 found that higher ages of sale were generally associated with lower prevalence of cigarette smoking among people aged 11–20 years, particularly where age-of-sale laws formed part of broader tobacco-control measures.