US: Tobacco''s Age Restriction Is Ethically Justified in New York

Source from:  Columbia Daily Spectator 12/03/2014

This semester, some college students in New York City discovered that they could no longer purchase a pack of cigarettes. In May, a law went into effect that made it illegal for retailers in New York City to sell tobacco products-including cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco-to people under the age of 21. The law also applies to electronic cigarettes.

"Tobacco 21" laws, as they are known, are relatively new, and have been enacted in only a few jurisdictions during the last decade: A number of small communities including several counties in Massachusetts and one county in Hawaii have adopted such restrictions. Even more have passed laws that will go into effect in the near future. And on a wider scale, these laws may be catching on. At least three states have considered enacting state-wide restrictions.

Will "Tobacco 21" laws reduce smoking? And if so, do their benefits outweigh any ethical problems they may raise? The answer to both questions is yes.

All tobacco control policies must answer charges of paternalism. Surely youths between the ages of 18 and 21, having reached the age at which they are capable of making adult decisions for themselves, should be allowed to purchase a legal product. But any argument grounded in individual liberty must take into account that nicotine is a powerfully addictive substance, to which adolescents and young adults, because of their still-developing physiology, are more susceptible than older people. Adolescence is a critical juncture in the development of nicotine addiction. The vast majority of adult smokers picked up the habit before they turned 21-and, overwhelmingly, they report later in life that they regret having done so.

Will age limits on tobacco purchases make a difference in youth smoking? The early experiences in Massachusetts towns where these restrictions have been enacted suggest that they do contribute to lower smoking rates. The most important benefit these laws confer is not on 18- to 21-year-olds, however, but on younger teenagers. Because many students turn 18 while still in high school, they can serve as a ready source of cigarettes for their friends-studies imply that many high school students who smoke get their cigarettes from classmates. Restricting purchases to people aged 21 and over makes it much less likely that 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds will have access to tobacco.

Of course, age limits are not a panacea. People can still obtain cigarettes from over-21 friends. Like most other consumer products now, cigarettes can be bought online, and few internet retailers rigorously enforce age restrictions. But the fact that a policy is not foolproof is not a reason to forgo it. No single measure, by itself, is sufficient to reduce the consumption of a product as widespread and aggressively marketed as the cigarette. On the contrary, the lesson learned in New York and cities around the country is that it takes a broad range of approaches to fight the epidemic of tobacco-related illness.

New York City has used limits on public smoking (all bars and restaurants are off-limits, as are parks, beaches, and pedestrian plazas), mass media messages, free nicotine replacement therapy, and-most powerful of all-sharp tax increases that make a pack of cigarettes more expensive here than in any other city in the country. All these measures together have given the city one of the country's lowest smoking rates.

The grim toll of tobacco-related illness hardly needs recapping: There are almost half a million tobacco related deaths per year in the United States, and incalculable numbers of people are suffering from cancers, heart and lung diseases, and premature disabilities as a result of tobacco. "Tobacco 21" laws are not about the Nanny State. They are about attempting to counter the corporate malfeasance of an extraordinarily wealthy industry that profits from human suffering and that-as its own internal documents callously reveal-continually seeks to hook new, young smokers to replace the ones who die prematurely as a result of using their product.

These "Tobacco 21" laws are an important step in fighting the aggressive epidemic caused by the uncaring tobacco industry. Enditem