The most common vices in the world are drinking and smoking. While some countries have an age limit of 18 for both of them, current US laws say that 18 year olds can legally smoke, but that you have to be 21 in order to legally drink.
Most American adults, including those who share the vices, are looking to change this scenario and set the same age limit for both smoking and drinking, however teens looking to indulge may not be very happy as the age they want to set is 21.
A new study conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that the legal smoking age should be 21
Survey results showed that 50 percent (50%) of adults living in the United States strongly feel that the minimum age at which young adults should legally be allowed to purchase cigarettes as well as other tobacco products should be raised from 18 to 21.
What’s more, an additional 25 percent (25%) are not quite as passionate about the issue, but still admit that they “somewhat favor” raising the age limit. That adds up to a total of 75 percent (75%) who more or less support the change.
In the opposite camp, 11 percent (11%) of the participants said that they are strongly against raising the minimum age of smoking to 21, while an additional 14 percent (14%) mentioned that they would be somewhat against raising it, leading up to a total of 25 percent (25%) who would have some kind of issue with the change.
The survey did not take place at a random moment in time, as the legal smoking age has been raised to 21 in Hawaii just last month. The state is the first one in the union to go through with the change and the law will apply to both classic cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. It will go into effect at the beginning of next year, on January 1st.
It’s worth mentioning that while the change is smaller, there are still four (4) other states that have raised the minimum age of legal smoking from 18 to 19 – Alaska, New Jersey, Alabama and Utah.
California is in transitions as a bill that proposes raising the minimum age for legally purchasing cigarettes and other tobacco products from the age of 18 to 21 has already been approved by the state Senate and is currently being considered by the Assembly.
The working theory is that raising the legal smoking age will cut down the number of smokers among the nation’s youth.
For the paper, published earlier this week, on Tuesday (July 7, 2015), in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the researchers questioned 4.219 people across the country.
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