{"id":231462,"date":"2016-07-05T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=231462"},"modified":"2016-07-05T06:00:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T20:00:07","slug":"guam-governor-vetoes-higher-smoking-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/guam-governor-vetoes-higher-smoking-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Guam governor vetoes higher smoking age"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>HAGATNA, Guam<\/strong> (AP)\u2014People can still buy tobacco in Guam at 18 after the U.S. territory\u2019s governor vetoed a bill that would have raised the age limit to 21.<\/p>\n<p>Legislators voted 9-6 to approve a measure increasing the legal age to buy tobacco products and use electronic cigarettes, the Pacific Daily News reported. <\/p>\n<p>But Gov. Eddie Calvo vetoed the legislation last week, calling the measure vague and unenforceable. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs adults, we each have the right to make our own individual life choices, even if that choice is bad for our health,\u201d Calvo said in his veto letter. \u201cAnd it\u2019s our personal responsibility to live with whatever choice we ultimately make.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz authored Guam\u2019s measure and said in a statement that he\u2019s hoping to get the 10 votes needed to override the veto. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cCigarettes turn choice into a lifelong addiction funded by taxpayers\u2014many of whom never smoked a day in their lives,\u201d Cruz said in a news release. \u201cWhen it costs 40 times more to treat a smoker than a nonsmoker, it isn\u2019t about choice. It\u2019s about saving lives, saving dollars, and saving valuable public resources.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Some U.S. states have limited tobacco sales to people who are at least 21. Hawaii was the first, with a law that went into effect in January. California followed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HAGATNA, Guam (AP)\u2014People can still buy tobacco in Guam at 18 after the U.S. territory\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8979,51,1806,1808],"class_list":["post-231462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-eddie-calvo","tag-guam","tag-hagatna","tag-pacific-daily-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}