Raise that age to buy cigarettes to 21 (CNN/Laurence Steinberg)

[denem]

The steady decline in teen smoking has stalled.

According to "Monitoring the Future," the University of Michigan's annual survey of the nation's adolescents, in 2006, about one-fifth of U.S. high school seniors smoked at least monthly, down from more than a third who did so in 1996. But in the past few years, that figure has not continued its steady drop.

The decline in regular smoking among younger students has similarly slowed, with rates at about 7% for eighth-graders and 14% for 10th-graders. Indeed, signs in the most recent surveys indicate that smoking among younger teenagers might be on the rise. ...

Perhaps anti-smoking education has done about as much as it can be realistically expected to accomplish. We should not discontinue it, of course. But we need some other strategies. At the top of the list should be raising the minimum legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21.

After 21 .... brain systems are much harder to change, which is good news for those who haven't tried smoking, drinking, or illicit drugs, but bad news for those who by that age are already hooked.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/18/steinberg.smoking.teens/?hpt=C2

IMO, the reference "illicit drugs" gives the game away. As an incorrigible social libertarian, I say no. The basic hypocrisy remains. Alcohol and Tobacco are unambiguously toxic, while years of research into cannabis and MDMA have proved "inconclusive". 18 or 21 for legal drugs doesn't obscure illegal at any age for the rest.

But the LAW is the LAW. Why not raise the age of consent to 21 to discourage teenage pregnancies? Maybe if the "kids" wait till 21 they mightn't take up sex at all, let alone sex followed by a cigarette or something stronger.

[ejpoeta]

1. i started smoking at 22 or 23. so much for that bs. making it illegal, as one can see already,

doesn't always inhibit the behavior. in fact, perhaps it increases it. kids want to do it because it's something they aren't supposed to do. when i was a kid no one gave a shit what i did, so there was no reason for me to do it. this does not mean i think kids should smoke or drink or have sex... i think the emphasis makes it something to say, well it must be good if they don't want me to do it. i did try smoking at 10 or 11.... but i hated it!! i didn't start smoking til i went out drinking and my friends smoked and it went so well together.... i think drinking age should be 18.... if you can sign a contract and join the army and go off to die in a war you should be able to drink. more emphasis should be on responsible behavior.... having a designated driver.... that kind of stuff. just telling people don't do it doesn't seem to work. there has to be a better way to deal with these issues.

[damntexdem]

2. That is irrelevant. The issue is that a majority of those addicted to tobacco ..

became addicted as teens.

True, the age for tobacco should be AT LEAST as high as that for drinking -- but because tobacco is so much more addictive and destructive, I would support an age of 21 for smoking even if the age for drinking were lowered.

[denem]

3. Why not raise the age to 25?

Then tive years later to 30?

Then five years later ....

So that eventually Smoking would be illegal at all ages.

Kids smoke and have sex at 15, despite the law. The blunt hammer of legal prohibition is'nt the answer.

[SheilaT]

4. Actually, I sort of like that idea,

as impractical as it would be in practice.

I'm guessing that the smoking rate in this country is just about as low as it can possibly be given that cigarettes are legal and readily available.

There is evidence, I understand, that raising the cost of cigarettes tends to lower smoking rates.

[ejpoeta]

18. sorry i disagree. at 18 you are legally an adult and therefore should be able to make those

decisions for yourself. there are a lot of things that aren't good for you..... people should be able to make those decisions for themselves.

[Obamanaut]

15. I watched a war movie the other day made in the 1940s, and one of the characters

referred to cigarettes as 'coffin nails.'

There have been reports published and anecdotal evidence witnessed by individuals regarding not only the hazards associated with smoking, but with the difficulty in quitting. All of this has been going on for a very long time.

And yet, despite this wealth of information about the smoking itself and the rigors involved in quitting, people will say "I started smoking in my 20s."

Are people really that dumb? Really?

[Lasher]

5. Strongly disagree.

If you're old enough to kill or be killed in our military, you're an adult. One of our finest hours in my lifetime was when we adopted the 26th Amendment. It should have broader application.

If cigarettes should be banned, they should be banned for everybody 18 and older. If not, leave young adults alone. Responsibility deserves corresponding privilege.

[pintobean]

6. +1

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. They should make the minimum age 175 years old.

In other words what I'm saying is cancer sticks should be illegal to produce and sell.

[devilgrrl]

8. What bullshit.

:nuke:

[truebrit71]

9. I started at 13. I finally, FINALLY quit at 47....

..I wonder to what other use I could have put that money?

Oh well...at least i don't smell like ass now...and I can taste food..

[alphafemale]

10. I'd doubt you could get it much below 20%

That's pretty much the idiot threshold. That remaining number will steal or have them given to them from a parent or older friend or sibling.

I wouldn't have a problem with raising the legal age on cigarettes but I doubt it would have much effect. An eighteen year old wouldn't be oppressed by not being able to buy cigarettes.

I started smoking at probably about 15 and stole most of those for probably a couple of years. I could "legally" buy cigarettes at 16 in my state but stores at the time routinely would sell cigarettes to a kid as long as they said something like it was for their Mom or Dad.

Probably most of the curtailing of teen smoking has been that it is much MUCH harder to steal them from a store now than it was when I was a kid.

They had wide open racks of loose packs of cigarettes in grocery, drug and most big box stores. You pretty much walked by. Threw it in the cart and a few minutes later nonchalantly put it in your pocket or purse. You could even light up in most stores then.

I even think the tobacco companies intended for the cigarettes to be easy to steal. Fund the habit for a few months when the kid is a pack a week smoker and you will create a pack+ a day addict very quickly.

By the way, I managed to finally give it up inhaling the crap around Dec 1999.

[pintobean]

12. So you must be

below the idiot threshold. I guess I am, too.

[alphafemale]

17. Probably half or better of teens smoked when I was a kid.

They were much easier to get. Not to mention that they were pretty damn cheap.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. We have enough dumb-ass, unenforceable laws on the books as it is.

Know why I never became a cig smoker? I was too busy smoking POT in high school.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Laurence.

[TheKentuckian]

13. Raise the military participation and voting age and I'll at least stop laughing.

I actually think the drinking age should be lowered to 18. At 18 you can vote, go to war, or be sentenced to death so if it works for issues of such gravity then it damn well should work for booze, smokes, and "drugs".

[FLPanhandle]

14. It'll just make it more "grown up" and forbidden

Not exactly the things to discourage youths from starting it.

Also, the cigarette industry will worry that people might know better by then.

[WatsonT]

16. Wait, so underage kids wouldn't smoke

if they were somehow even more underage?

Sure. Worked great for alcohol. I can't think of any teenager who drinks.