Community reductions in youth smoking after raising the minimum tobacco sales age to 21

Shari Kessel Schneider; Stephen L Buka; Kim Dash; Jonathan P Winickoff; Lydia O'Donnell

doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-052207

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Community reductions in youth smoking after raising the minimum tobacco sales age to 21

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Re: Raising the Minimum tobacco sales age to 21- worth a try?
Olatokunbo I Osibogun
Published on: 3 November 2015

Published on: 3 November 2015
Re: Raising the Minimum tobacco sales age to 21- worth a try?
- Olatokunbo I Osibogun, M.B.B.S, M.P.H
To the Editor,
Despite the seemingly decline in tobacco use, the habit is picked up by youths on a daily basis. According to the CDC fact sheet, tobacco use is established primarily during adolescence where 9 out of 10 cigarette smokers first initiate smoking by age 18. In the United States, more than 3,800 youths aged 18 years or younger try their first cigarette every day [1]. If the trend continues, about 5....
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To the Editor,
Despite the seemingly decline in tobacco use, the habit is picked up by youths on a daily basis. According to the CDC fact sheet, tobacco use is established primarily during adolescence where 9 out of 10 cigarette smokers first initiate smoking by age 18. In the United States, more than 3,800 youths aged 18 years or younger try their first cigarette every day [1]. If the trend continues, about 5.6 million Americans that are less than 18 years will die early from a smoking-related illness i.e. 1 of every 13 young Americans will lose their lives to tobacco use [1]. These figures are disturbing, and though tobacco control is at the forefront in trying to reduce these mortalities from tobacco use, the road ahead seems long and weary.
In 2007, a study using modelling techniques showed that increasing the smoking age would lead to a drop in youth smoking prevalence from 22% to under 9% for the 15- 17 year old age [2]. Another study done in England, also found that increasing the age for legal purchase of tobacco was associated with reduction in smoking [3]. According to a study done in 1996, "adopting the tobacco policy of raising the legal age would delaying the initiation of smoking if it succeeds"[4]. And that it might also contribute to the reduction of smoking-related mortality and morbidity in the youth[4].
In this current study, the authors showed that the Needham community in Massachusetts has achieved success with this policy by comparing the youth smoking trends in this community with surrounding nearby communities that have not raised the legal age for tobacco purchase [5]. Their results showed that there was a greater decline in youth smoking in Needham due to an increase in the legal smoking age relative to the other communities. Although this study shows promising results for the immediate effects of decline in tobacco use, it should be noted that present day youths now have the leisure of purchasing alternative tobacco products in the form of e-cigarettes, hookahs and smokeless tobacco. It is reported that nearly 4 of every 100 middle school students in 2014 use e-cigarettes, 3 in 100 had used hookah and more than 5 in 100 currently use smokeless tobacco [1].
Enacting the policy on increasing the legal age to purchase tobacco should be thoroughly comprehensive to include alternative tobacco products as well. Though, the future of tobacco control seems daunting, it is still worth a try to raise the legal age of tobacco purchase in order to curb the sequelae of a lifelong addiction that has deleterious health effects.
References
1.http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/youth_data/tobacco_use/index.htm#background
2. Ahmad. (2007). Limiting youth access to tobacco: Comparing the long-term health impacts of increasing cigarette excise taxes and raising the legal smoking age to 21 in the united states. Health Policy (Amsterdam), 80(3), 378; 378-391; 391.
3. Millett, C., Lee, J. T., Gibbons, D. C., & Glantz, S. A. (2011). Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco in England: Impacts on socio-economic disparities in youth smoking. Thorax, 66(10), 862-865.
4. Breslau, N. (1996). Smoking cessation in young adults: Age at initiation of cigarette smoking and other suspected influences. American Journal of Public Health (1971), 86(2), 214.
5. Schneider, S. K., Buka, S. L., Dash, K., Winickoff, J.P., O'Donell, L. (2015). Community reductions in youth smoking after raising the minimum tobacco sales age to 21. Tobacco Control doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-052207
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
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Conflict of Interest:
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