By JIMMY LAWTON

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County Legislator John Burke, R-Norfolk, wants to prohibit the sale of tobacco products for those under 21, but County Legislative Chair Kevin Acres, R-Madrid, says the proposed law is “government overreach.”

On Monday, St. Lawrence County legislators agreed to hold a public hearing in June on a resolution that would raise the age requirement on purchasing tobacco products.

Burke says the law would include prohibition of sales of e-cigarettes to those under 21 as well. He said it would not create a means for police to prosecute smokers who are 18-20. However, he was unsure if it would allow police means to charge citizens over age 21 who shared tobacco products with people in that age group.

Acres voted against holding a public hearing and says he will oppose the regulation when the time comes.

Acres says it’s pretty clear to most people that tobacco can cause health problems, and while he is not a smoker, he says the law places unnecessary restrictions on the public. Acres said the county passed a law a few years ago that prohibits smoking on county property. Acres said this law also prohibited people from smoking in their vehicles on county property, which he believes goes too far.

Acres said that law has led to people smoking on nearby roadways just off county property, putting them at potential risk.

“So now we have people putting themselves at risk because of a law that isn’t reducing the smoking rate,” he said.

Acres says he does not believe raising the age will have a significant impact on reducing the number of smokers either. He said the only way to achieve that goal is to increase taxes on the product.

Burke said the resolution was presented by the Seaway Valley Prevention Center, which was also involved in outlawing smoking on public property in the St. Lawrence County.

Burke says that a tipping point for him in supporting the measure was the fact that the majority of smokers start before age 21. He cited data from the prevention center that placed that number at 95 percent, but said even if it’s only 75 percent, it’s still a large margin.

Burke said he was also presented with finding from the surgeon general that shows adolescences and young adults are more susceptible to the addictive effects nicotine and other drugs. Burke says big tobacco companies are aware of this and he believes they target that group of individuals in their marking campaigns because they “know if they can get people addicted at an early age it very often carries on to be a life long customer,” he said.

Burke says he is aware that some may view the proposal as government overreach, but he says he believes this is about protecting a vulnerable portion of the population.

“I guess you could look at it and say, this is more of a presentation from people who had a little more progressive orientation, but for me this isn’t about politics or alignment with political philosophical points of view. It’s about protecting citizens,” he said.

Acres disputes that argument, because he doesn’t believe the law will achieve that goal. He said he also has concerns about enforcement. He said police currently run stings to catch local businesses selling alcohol to minors and says its likely similar stings will be ran if on businesses in the wake of this law’s passage. Acres says stores will be fooled and some merchants will be fined, for a law that will not effectively address the problem it intends to solve.

“It’s a fallacy that it will have any effect at all on reducing smoking rates,” Acres said.