A Colorado representative has introduced a bill in Congress to raise the legal smoking age to 21.

Representative Diana DeGette's Bill called the Tobacco to 21 Act, aims to raise the legal smoking age in the US to 21.

The bill is cosponsored by Democratic US Representatives Raul Grijalva (Arizona), Eliot Engel (New York), Suzanne Bonamici (Oregon), John Garamendi (California), Steve Cohen (Tennessee), and Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii).

Five states, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Hawaii and Maine have already passed legislation raising the minimum smoking age to 21.

In Colorado, Aspen passed a law raising the minimum smoking age in the town to 21. That law will go into effect January 1, 2018.

Recently, Denver passed a law banning smoking entirely on the 16th Street Mall.

According to Tobacco Free Kids, most adult smokers start before the age of 21 and approximately 350 kids and teens under age 18 become regular smokers every day.

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