NC lawmakers debate raising tobacco purchase age to 21 amid vaping crisis

A group of lawmakers and teens are working to lower the number of young people who vape.

In North Carolina, 1 in 8 high school students vape, according to the state health department.

Charlene Zorn’s stepson was one of them.

“Had Solomon’s friends not been able to get vapes, Solomon would have never started vaping,” Zorn said.

Solomon was a healthy 15-year-old football player until 2023 when his lungs filled with fluid. Doctors said he died after complications from vaping leaving his parents to make what they called a very hard decision.

“We had to make the worst decision ever,” Zorn said. “We had to choose to take our child off the ventilator.”

Zorn now stands with a group of others pushing to move "Solly's law" forward in the General Assembly. State lawmakers met Tuesday to discuss the bill, named after Solomon. If passed, the bill would raise the legal age to buy nicotine and tobacco products to 21.

It makes it harder for kids to buy nicotine and tobacco products. The bill would require all tobacco shops to have an ALE permit, making it subject to inspections.

The permit includes a $400 fee for stores that do not already have one.

“This bill doesn’t shutter any legitimate businesses, it makes us all partners in protecting our young people from self-inflicted harm,” said Gale Adcock. D-Wake.

In 2019, Congress increased the federal minimum legal sales age of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21.

However, the legal age to buy tobacco products in North Carolina is only 18, and North Carolina is one of only seven states that hasn’t passed a law to raise the age and make the state law compliant to the federal law.

Opponents of the bill have concerns about business with an added fee and a drop in sales.

WRAL documentary investigative reporter Cristin Severance reports North Carolina is at risk of losing $5 million of federal dollars for mental health prevention, treatment and recovery services if it doesn’t effectively prevent underage sales of tobacco products to young people by the end of the year.

WRAL Documentary on teen vaping

The WRAL Documentary team has covered teen vaping in Wake County, with WRAL News crews going undercover to see if anyone would ID a young person trying to buy a vape. 

Watch "Gen V: Teen Vaping in North Carolina" here.

Zorn spoke at the conference Tuesday. Her stepson, "Solly," is featured in the WRAL doc.