Raising The Tobacco Age To 21 Persuasive Essay

Over the last few decades, tobacco and nicotine prevention efforts have risen to an all time high. Prevention efforts focus on education to the public of the negative effects on one’s health when using tobacco and nicotine products, as well as with pleas to healthcare policymakers to increase restrictions on product manufacturing and sales. One policy effort growing in popularity in the United States is called Tobacco 21, which proposes to raise the legal age of purchase for consumers of tobacco and nicotine products to 21 years of age (Farber, Pakhale, & Neptune, 2016). Farber, Pakhale, and Neptune (2016) state that 90% of tobacco and nicotine users begin smoking before the age of 18, with 99% of users starting before the age of 26. Lower smoking cessation rates are associated with earlier ages of initiation and the tobacco industry is known to target youth in advertisement of these products lending to the early age of initiation. The tobacco industry themselves admit that increasing the age allowed for purchase to exclude youth would substantially effect their sales. Tobacco 21 laws also deter adolescents from gaining tobacco or nicotine products from friends 18 to 21 years of age, which is the most likely age group to supply younger teens. With this knowledge, placing tighter restrictions on consumers younger than 21 years of age, using the Tobacco 21 policy, may deter tobacco and nicotine initiation in hopes to prevent individual use at all in the future (Farber

In the article it explain how raising taxes on cigarettes will benefits teens in the future: “Studies indicate that 90 percent of smokers start as teens. An estimated 17,000 California kids get hooked on smoking and one-third of them will eventually die from a tobacco-related illness. In every other state that has raised the tobacco tax, smoking rates have gone down among teens” (Western Dental Joins California Health Leaders Supporting Proposition 56). Most people would agree that habits are formed at young age, and we all know that bad habits are hard to quit, specially those that creates addiction such as cigarettes. If the price of cigarettes is raise, teens will not be able to afford them since teens are limited in money which will prevent them from creating that addiction. Also, we will be able to have more control over impulsive teenagers, is not that we are coddling them but rather guide them to do what is right for them and break the cycle of smokers. Furthermore,

"I'm going to lose a lot of business," deli owner Wadah Arbuya told CBS New York. "I'm going to get hurt big time. Half my sales of cigarettes is between 18 and 21." If this legislation is making a large impression on a deli owner, it will substantially impact those owners of smoke shops, selling predominately all tobacco products.

Also the lowering of the age can cause the teen to see using alcohol less dangerous than it actually is and could result in the person getting drunk often without seeing the risks on it and could end up hurting him/her self or the people that surround him or her under the influence and could result in serious consequences this is seen in the article Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age? by Tamika C.B. Zapolski .

Set a specific date that anyone born before that said date in 2000 are the only people who can purchase cigarettes, so those who have already started won’t be expected to just quit because the presses of quitting isn’t an overnight thing, and next year the date doesn’t change, it will stay that said date of 2000 then they will have to be 19 to purchase cigarettes date will never change unless a new law is passed to change

Once a person reaches the age of 18, they are allowed to tattoo their bodies, smoke tobacco, gamble and even enlist if they wanted to! As an adult, they want to be treated as one but how can they feel like an adult if hanging around with their friends and drinking beer while watching TV is illegal? Of course, that does not stop them, though. The United States is one of the few countries in which still have such a high minimum drinking age. Although most people think young adults (18-year olds) are irresponsible, the minimum drinking age should be lowered to 18 because they deserve to be recognized as adults in order to avoid illegal, uncontrolled drinking and other illegal actions.

It seems like a double standard, young adults can start smoking at the age of eighteen, but cannot drink till the age of twenty-one. If one is able to use a substance like tobacco, he or she should be able to drink alcohol. Therefore, the drinking age should be lowered. Not only can one start using tobacco product at eighteen, one registers for the draft, and he or she may enlist in the armed forces. An eighteen year old may not be looked at as responsible enough to drink alcohol, but without any hesitation he or she can volunteer to risk his or her life for this country (Hirby). Each duty listed above takes a considerable amount of maturity. Some people may think that eighteen year olds are not responsible enough to drink alcohol, but they clearly have to be. At the age of eighteen, one is given the responsibility of taking care of him or herself. Eighteen is officially and legally the age of adulthood; therefore, eighteen year olds should be given their right to drink alcohol.

One of the biggest reasons kids under the age of 21 get in trouble is having drugs or alcohol on their body. Now, because they are underage it is a big deal. Once the underage teenager’s are found with the substance of alcohol on their body its automatically a minor in possession. (MIP). The ramification of the offense due to its recent changing would be ineluctably punishable by only a $100 fine and this definitely more of a feasible way of punishment, compared to when it wasn’t just a civil infraction and it was a $500 dollar fine and up to 90 days in jail. But by lowering the drinking age,you would not only minimize the traffic in the court systems which take up more serious cases’ time you would also give the underage citizens another chance of straightening their life. Because not in everyone’s case that it’s their fault when they get an MIP. Receiving an MIP will dampen their

According to Joshua Berlinger and Andy Rose, ever since California raised the smoking age to 21 there has been a quarter-million premature deaths and 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer. The smoking age should be increased to 21 in all states because it would save many more lives and it would be harder for teens to get tobacco and vapor products.

Although many young adults see this as robbing them of their rights as an adult I think that by keeping it at 21 we are extending their lives and providing a healthier lifestyle as an early age. Many may argue that there is not a big difference from smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol therefore, it should be legal to be able to both at eighteen. The reason why the age limit to drink alcohol is at twenty-one and not eighteen is because of the effect alcohol has. Cigarettes do not impair your vision, motor skills, speech or memory. Yes, it is still bad for your health, but even after a pack of cigarettes you can still drive and you can still recognize when your about to make a

Public health departments and special interest health organizations strongly support policies of increasing the tobacco purchasing age to 21. Organizations like American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids had provided many researches and studies to support the policy. People from age 18 to 21 and parents had mixed opinions. The youth smokers were most likely to oppose this policy. Another large opponents was the tobacco industry, as increasing the tobacco

In this case the drinking age was raised to the age of twenty-one because people would have more time to mature. Today teens want to consume alcohol to appear more mature. If the drinking age was lowered it would totally deactivate this misconception. Also, if it was lowered it would take away the ecstasy teens get by drinking and breaking the law in the process. From a parent’s point of view, they would rather teach their children how to drink with self-control then their children sneaking around when drinking alcohol because they would be able to without breaking the law.

The legal age for purchasing cigarettes should be raised to 21. Society today, you will see people under the age of 21 purchasing tobacco products. At the age of 21 you are responsible for what you consume and what you put in your system, and you are responsible for what the effects can do. In the state of Minnesota currently the legal age for purchasing tobacco products is at the age of 18. The reason for raising the age for purchasing tobacco products is to prevent younger adults to harm their bodies at a young age. Too much use of tobacco can cause cancer or even worse it can kill you

Most smokers started their cigarette addictions when they were only minors. Tobacco companies are fully aware of this and rely on it for better sales. “To maintain sales, the tobacco industry must recruit more than 2 million people every year to replace those who die and those who quit smoking. Since 90% of beginning smokers are children or teenagers, this means that the industry must entice at least 5000 youngsters daily to take up smoking” (Andre and Velasquez 7). This means that advertising smoking towards minors is crucial to keeping these companies in business. They could not survive without underage smokers. Luring children to smoke is beyond unethical. No company should be allowed to entice kids into an addictive habit that kills every day.

A 2002 study performed by the Research Triangle Institute states that the tobacco companies make 1.8 billion dollars annually from underage sales. It is interesting that they are making such large profits when it is illegal for a person under the age of 18 to purchase cigarettes. A recent survey by the The American Lung Association indicated that among students under 18 years old who were current smokers, 69.4% reported never being asked for proof of age when buying cigarettes in a store, and 62.4% were not refused purchase because of their age.