New research showing the benefits of raising the legal smoking age to 21 could prompt states to beef up their laws.
One key to reducing smoking is to stop kids from beginning at all, since the vast majority of Americans get started before age 19. A report released Thursday by the Institutes of Medicine says it’s found a good way to do that: raise the legal age of purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21.
Doing that would have the largest effects among 15- to 17-year-olds, cutting by one-fourth their first-time smoking rate, the report predicts. That’s because those who can legally obtain tobacco would be less likely to be in the same social networks as high school students — and therefore wouldn’t pass cigarettes along.
It wouldn’t be nearly as effective to raise the legal age to 19, as high school students would still be likely to have friends who could buy cigarettes for them. And if the legal age were raised to 21, bumping it still higher to age 25 wouldn’t bring notable reductions either, the report says.
While in recent years lawmakers have passed scads of new restrictions on where people are allowed to light up, states have so far shown little will to raise the legal smoking age.
All but four states have kept it at the federal minimum of 18, and no state has yet bumped it up to 21. Localities have been a little more active on that front, with New York City, the Big Island of Hawaii and several dozen small towns approving such measures.
There’s some action this legislative season. Bills to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products have been introduced in Rhode Island and California. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is pushing state lawmakers to act on one.
Federal law says states cannot set their legal smoking ages younger than 18. But cognitive development takes place even after that age, the panel noted.
“From a developmental standpoint, there’s nothing magic about the age of 18,” said panel chairman Richard Bonnie, a professor of medicine and law at the University of Virginia.
More than two-thirds of Americans support raising the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21, according to a survey conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Mississippi State University in Starkville.
If more states raised the smoking age, it would also result in lower smoking rates overall, not just among teenagers. Raising the legal smoking age to 21 nationwide would mean three million fewer adult smokers by 2060, the report predicts.
The federal government doesn’t have the authority to change the smoking age nationally; only Congress does. The IOM panel didn’t include any formal policy recommendations, but Bonnie said he hopes it will result in some changes to the law.
“We hope and expect there will be substantial consideration at the state and local level of the findings of this report,” he said.
Healthcare advocates also urged states to pay attention to its predictions and take action.
“Raising the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco can be implemented as part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy that includes proven ways to reduce death and suffering from tobacco-related illnesses,” said Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
The report was undertaken as a requirement of the Tobacco Control Act that Congress passed in 2009. Sandra Hassink, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, called it a “crucial contribution to the debate on tobacco access for young people.”
“This report lays the groundwork for critical policy discussions, and we urge our policymakers to carefully consider the health of our nation’s children in decisions over access to these dangerous products,” Hassink said.
