Should the tobacco age be raised to 21?
Published 1:30 pm Thursday, August 27, 2015
- Ethan Forman/Staff photo College student Matt Mogavero, left, speaks out against a proposal by the Board of Health to increase the age one can buy tobacco or nicotine delivery products from 18 to 21, during a public hearing last night in Peabody City Hall. He said young adults should be able to make their own decisions. In the back at right is Thomas Chesbrough, a co-owner of Peabody Vapors on Main Street, who also opposes the new tobacco sales-age restriction.
PEABODY, Mass. — The first time Bernard Horowitz said he picked up a cigarette was at age 18 in college when he wanted to look grown up.
It’s a decision he does not want future 18-year-olds to make.
“I would like to see the new 18-year-olds never pick up that cigarette,” Horowitz said.
That was one of the reasons why Horowitz, now the Peabody Board of Health Chairman, favored upping the age at which people can buy tobacco and nicotine delivery products in the north of Boston suburb from 18 to 21.
Peabody joins its neighboring cities of Salem, Danvers, and Saugus in approving an increase in the tobacco sales age from 18 to 21.
Should more towns and cities should follow suit?
A positive health effect
In March, the National Institute of Health issues a report saying that barring people under age 21 from buying cigarettes can heave a tremendous public health benefit, including “4.2 million fewer years of life lost” among the next generation of American adults. A nationwide tobacco age of 21 would result in nearly a quarter-million fewer premature deaths and 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer among people born between 2000 and 2019, according to the report, which was based on a study conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
More than half of current smokers say they started smoking before they were 18, the report also stated.
Peabody Board of Health member Stephen Kalivas noted that Needham, Massachusetts was the first community in the nation to up the tobacco sales age to 21, and he was convinced by another study, conducted at Brown University, that showed smoking rates among teens in Needham dropped 50 percent compared with a dozen surrounding communities.
Ethan Forman is a staff writer at The Salem (Mass.) News.
