The legal age for smoking and vaping should be lowered back to 18 to promote buying nicotine products safely from licensed retailers.
In 2019, the United States raised the minimum age for purchasing tobacco and nicotine products from 18 to 21, which included cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, hookah tobacco, cigars, pipe tobacco, electronic nicotine delivery systems including e-cigarettes and e-liquids.
The law took effect immediately with no grace period or sunset provision, meaning all stores had to follow the new law with no notice and the law would not change after a certain date, according to the FDA.
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable cancers, and while it is on the way to being curbed entirely, it is still affecting many people around the world.
To decrease the usage of tobacco, e-cigarettes, more commonly known as vapes, have become a replacement for cigarettes and other tobacco products. They are lightweight, easy to use, concealable, and they come in a variety of different flavors.
Vaping gives the user a higher amount of nicotine than cigarettes do with each inhalation, making them just as addictive, if not more addictive, than cigarettes.
The harm in nicotine does not come from the nicotine itself, but from the inhalation of smoke, aerosol, and chemicals. The harsh chemicals and hot vapors found in E-cigarettes have been shown to cause damage to the lungs.
In a recent study done by an associate professor of medicinal chemistry with the University of Wyoming’s School of Pharmacy, it was found that repeated e-cigarette vaping induces pulmonary and systemic inflammation with adverse changes to the lungs and heart.
These e-cigarettes, while not proven to cause cancer and other illnesses as traditional cigarettes do, can still be harmful to the bodies of those using them. Vaping is harmful to users, but it is significantly better than smoking and using tobacco products.
Despite the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine, the alternative can be much worse. Looking at some of the most serious incidents where underage individuals were harmed by vaping the issue was not the nicotine itself, but the form in which it came.
Many underage smokers that have been hospitalized for this have smoked or vaped something that was not licensed because they were unable to purchase it safely.
If people want underage individuals to stop smoking and vaping, increasing the age limit isn’t going to do much. After having the age limit as 18 years of age for so long, underage individuals who are addicted are willing to buy nicotine from anywhere just to get their fix, which, in the long run, is more harmful than buying from a store that has the licensed products.
Increasing the age limit won’t stop people from smoking or vaping, they will find a way to get it somehow. Whether this is through friends and family who are of age or fake IDs, it will still happen.
I have seen friends who are of age buying nicotine for those who aren’t of age as well as friends who aren’t of age using fake IDs to get what they need.
The CDC reported that among current e-cigarette users in 2022, 46.0% of high school students and 20.8% of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes frequently.
What we see now regarding tobacco is similar to what happened during American prohibition; taking the product off the shelves isn’t eradicating the product or the consumption of it, but rather creating more dangerous ways to obtain and consume the product.
Changing the age limit to 21 isn’t going to prevent 18 year olds from smoking, it’s just going to make it so that underage individuals are committing crimes.
In the media, there have been multiple reports of nicotine-caused lung issues. The issue was not the nicotine itself, but the form in which it came. Many underage smokers that have been hospitalized for this have smoked or vaped something that was not licensed because they were unable to purchase it safely.
In a study published by the CDC in 2022, they reported that the percentage of underage smokers buying from in-person stores decreased from 67.2% to 58.9%. However, the online purchase of products only decreased from 86.6% to 85.8%.
This is significant because not only are underage smokers still smoking, but they still have access to the things that are supposed to be illegal for their age. Online nicotine products have the potential to be so much more harmful to a person’s health because there is no way of knowing that these products are safe and licensed.
In many different countries in Europe the drinking age for alcohol is 16-18, which dampens the urge and excitement to drink, making it less desirable to drink illegally. This could be applied to the smoking age in the United States, making it less desirable to smoke and vape illegally.
Reinstating the age limit on nicotine to age 18 will be better for those who already smoke and make it safer for smokers to get licensed products.
