As a public health strategy for Jefferson City government, we support a proposal to discourage smoking and/or vaping for people under age 21.
The nationwide campaign - called "Tobacco 21" - urges state and municipal government to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco and/or vaping products from 18 to 21. Vaping - the use of devices that convert liquid nicotine to steam - have gained popularity, particularly as an alternative to tobacco products.
The effort is being promoted locally by Council for Drug Free Youth (CDFY) members, who recently made a presentation to city officials.
Adult smoking rates nationwide are falling, and the council wants to accelerate that decline among young people.
According to CDFY:
Raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 can reduce overall smoking rates by 12 percent.
The Tobacco 21 initiative would reduce smoking among 13- to 17-year-olds by 25 percent and among 18- to 20-year-olds by 15 percent, according to a March 2015 study by the Institute of Medicine.
Fewer people who begin smoking before age 18 translates into fewer long-term smokers.
Tobacco 21 is gaining traction in Missouri, with laws passed by Kansas City, Independence, Grandview, Gladstone and Columbia.
Smoking, as we noted in this forum Wednesday, is the nation's leading cause of preventable illness. The potential health consequences of vaping are only now being studied.
Fears raised elsewhere about declining sales tax revenues have proved unfounded; statewide tobacco sales are 0.09 percent of all retail sales.
Government traditionally has maintained an ironic relationship with public health, deriving tax revenues from the sale of tobacco products it purports to discourage.
Ultimately, Tobacco 21 is not about money; it's about preventing young people from smoking.
We know too many adults who began smoking as teens and now wish they never had started. The addictive nicotine makes smoking a difficult habit to break; the costs are increasingly more expensive. And medical diagnoses include cancer, emphysema, heart disease and more.
Tobacco 21 wasn't available for them. It's available now if Jefferson City government is serious about helping young people avoid future consequences.