Smoking: should the age be raised?

The legal age for the purchase of tobacco products is currently eighteen, excluding the few states who have changed the age to nineteen, which include Alaska, Alabama, New Jersey, certain parts of New York and Utah. Hawaii just passed a law banning the sale and consumption of all tobacco products under the age of twenty-one, however, which will begin rolling out on January 1, 2016. With Hawaii leading the charge, others are beginning to question whether or not this is the right move.

Smoking has always been considered a detriment to a person’s health, and it has been proven that most people who smoke begin as teenagers. “Tobacco is unique among consumer products in that it severely injures and kills when used exactly as intended,” said CNN regarding the policy statement released by the AAP ( the American Academy of Pediatrics ). With all of the information known to man, it is smart to avoid smoking entirely, specifically in an age where the harmful effects of tobacco are documented. However, it is not right to strip young adults of the privilege to choose what they want to do with their own bodies. Young adults should be able to choose whether or not they want to smoke, and it would be cruel to take away yet another privilege given to eighteen-year-olds, as the ability to consume and buy alcohol was in the past.

Although smoking may be harmful to a person’s health, the age at which a person is able to legally start should not be raised. In the same way that a person can vote, join the military, and go to college at the age of eighteen, one should be able to choose whether or not they want to smoke. Smoking cigarettes is different from alcohol or marijuana, in that it does not significantly impact your state of mind; tobacco and nicotine products are associated with brief feelings of energy and adrenaline, but there is no significant impairment that results from smoking. This puts it in a separate category from alcohol or marijuana, and into a category with a drug like caffeine.

By increasing the smoking age, eighteen-year-olds are prevented from accessing other less harmful smoking products, such as e-cigarettes, which have become an increasingly popular smoking outlet for youth. Using e-cigarettes , also known as “vaping” , has seen monumental growth over the last couple of years. With the growth of popular e-cigarette products, people have begun using them as a means to quit traditional smoking. E-cigs emit a water-vapor when smoked, different from the tobacco which traditional cigarettes use; e-cigarettes provide a simulated smoking experience, along with the nicotine that people who smoke are accustomed to. Young adults who may have started smoking through cigarettes, may try to quit through the use of e-cigarettes. However, if the smoking age is raised young adults will not have access to these successful remedies. The smoking age simply can not be raised, for the simple fact that it would stop those who are addicted to smoking from accessing cleaner, healthier options.  

If the United States were to institute a nationwide law which increased the smoking age to twenty-one, everyone would suffer, because those who want to smoke would not be able to, the tobacco industry would lose millions of dollars, and people who are taking advantage of less harmful smoking products such as e-cigarettes would no longer be able to purchase them. People who need access to certain smoking related products or remedies would not be able to easily get them, meaning that those who are trying to stop smoking would be impacted too. Although the smoking-age has been eighteen, people as young as fourteen have been able to obtain cigarettes and begin smoking . Implementing a change such as raising the smoking age will do nothing to prevent teenagers from smoking; it will just strip legal adults of a right which people have had for centuries. At a certain point individuals need to be able to make decisions for themselves, and eighteen has always been the age for transition into adulthood.