US: Hike the Tobacco Purchasing Age to 21

Source from:  Chicago Tribune 02/06/2016

A move to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco to 21 is gaining momentum across the country. More than 100 cities, including New York, Cleveland and Evanston, have done it. Hawaii has set a statewide age of 21.

Now Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants Chicago to join the crowd. This is a good, healthy idea.

A higher minimum age for tobacco sales won't by itself stop teens from smoking. But there's encouraging research that it is effective.

A study recently reported in the journal Tobacco Control showed that raising the age to 21 significantly reduced teenage smoking in several Massachusetts communities. Yes, those teen smoking rates already are falling nationally. But the Tobacco Control paper showed that hiking the cigarette purchase age pushed deeper declines in teen smoking in those Massachusetts towns than in nearby towns that allowed sales to anyone 18 and older.

A 2015 Institute of Medicine study projected that far fewer teens would take up smoking if the age was lifted to 21. The number who start smoking cigarettes between the ages of 15 and 17 would drop by an estimated 25 percent. Overall, the change to 21 would translate into about 223,000fewer premature deaths and 50,000fewer lung cancer deaths among those born between 2000 and 2019.

Boosting the tobacco age would make it harder for kids 18 and younger to buy cigarettes or bum them from older friends. It would delay the age that kids start experimenting with tobacco.

We've heard the objections to this move: That age 18 brings many adult obligations and privileges. That teens who can vote and fight in the military shouldn't be denied the right to buy cigarettes. But we think that public health trumps those arguments. A 2014 survey reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that 3 in 4 Americans favor raising the minimum age of tobacco sales to 21. Even 7 in 10 smokers support raising the minimum age. They know how dangerous their addictive and unforgiving habit is.

The legal age to buy alcohol is 21 virtually across the nation. That's a recognition that teens, even older teens, should be dissuaded by law from doing something that's a significant health risk.

Each day, some 3,000 youngsters try their first cigarette. That's 3,000 teens making a bad decision. Many of them just plunked down cash at a convenience store and tucked the package in their shirts. Legal. And too easy.

The tobacco age hike to 21 should sail through the Chicago City Council. Time to start a conversation with the Illinois legislature. Enditem