19 things you’re allowed to do at 19, but you can’t be sold cigarettes

I would call this one a shocker. Friday the governor's office announced that he had signed into law a bill raising the age at which you can be sold cigarettes from 19 to 21. Surprising since he had vetoed this before. The idea is pushing off the legal age at which you can be sold cigarettes so that you may be more mature by then and decide not to pick up the habit. The problem? The vast majority of smokers don't start their habit by walking into a Wawa and buying their very first cigarette. It is usually bummed off a friend, an older sibling, or swiped out of mom or dad's pack. Of course this nonsense is being touted as saving lives.

It brings up the question, when are we really going to consider an adult and adult? Do we want to go with the latest theory that the human brain doesn't fully mature until age 26? And if we did, wouldn't that mean no voting, no military service, no entering legal contracts, until your late 20's?

No, how about we recognize that when you're 18, you're an adult, and that's that. The Amethyst Initiative on college campuses has even pushed for an examination of lowering the drinking age. Let's have some consistency here.

Since the current 'smoking age' of 19 is about to be scrapped in favor of 21, I offer up these 19 things you are allowed to do at age 19...except be sold cigarettes.

1) You are allowed to marry. No permission. No note from mommy.

2) You are allowed to have children and raise your own family. Think about that. You're allowed at 19 to be responsible for a baby's life, but not your own.

3) You can blow your entire paycheck on lottery tickets, just don't ask for a pack of Marlboros.

4) You are allowed to enter a legal contract and be solely responsible for your own debt.

5) You are allowed to risk your life for your country by enlisting in the military, but you won't be allowed to risk your life to cigarettes.

6) You may risk skin cancer by climbing in a tanning bed. Even with Tan Mom fallout, you can do this at 17.

7) You can get a tattoo without parental permission.

8) You can pierce any part of your body you want, no questions asked.

9) You can lease an apartment, or even buy a home.

10) You can serve on a jury and decide the fate of someone else's life. Just not your own life, not when it comes to smoking.

11) Mess up and you can go to jail, real jail, not juvi jail.

12) You can legally change your name.

13) You can vote for the very people who can tell you you're old enough to vote for them but not old enough to make up your own mind about whether to smoke.

14) You can donate blood.

15) You are allowed to file a lawsuit.

16) You may rent a hotel room.

17) You can get your CDL. Handle a truck, but not a pack of smokes.

18) You can have a will.

19) You can get a divorce. Just don't even think about stopping at QuickChek after you leave the courthouse for a pack of cigarettes.