The Cook County Board of County Commissioners voted Thursday to raise the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21.
The law will go into effect June 1.
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The minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Illinois and Cook County was previously 18 years old. However, dozens of municipalities throughout the state - including Aurora, Chicago, Evanston and Naperville - already enacted laws setting the minimum age at 21.
Just one year after Chicago raised the minimum purchase age, the city saw a 36 percent decline in the use of tobacco products among teenagers, according to the American Lung Association.